…Councillor asks
CITY Councillor Gwendoline McGowan has questioned why Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green has eight City Constabulary officers and two security guards at his residence.
McGowan raised the issue last Monday at the council’s fortnightly statutory meeting at City Hall, and Deputy Chief Constable Trevor Merriman, filling in for Chief Constable Andrew Foo, was called upon to explain the situation. Merriman acknowledged that the case was indeed as set out, and confirmed that the officers were all employed with the Constabulary.
When Chief Constable Andrew Foo had spoken to the Chronicle in an invited comment earlier this year, he had not been very optimistic about having a full complement of staff, but was hoping that the department would have still retained the more than 160 officers presently employed.
The full strength of the City Constabulary Department should be 234, although 314 have been budgeted for 2012, he had explained; and he had said that the number of officers for 2011 was “grossly inadequate.”
Among the constraints being experienced by that particular department are that not many people are applying to serve in the Constabulary, and the majority of applicants are women. Foo had said that to help solve this problem, schools may have to be targeted in an effort to identify the positives of the employment.
The City Constabulary Department recently conducted an anti-littering campaign, which was quite successful in terms of arresting and charging people for dumping garbage. However, shortage of staff had forced officers who were involved in that campaign to divert their attention to the 2011 general elections and to the increased Christmas shopping.
A three- to four-member team has been devised to rid the city of litterbugs, and officers in plain clothes have been mandated to apprehend persons caught in the act of littering. These detectives are working in strategic locations, including Regent, Water and King Streets, as well as at Stabroek and Cuffy Squares.
Those caught littering would be arrested and placed before the court, and could be fined $7,500. This initiative is intended to continue as ‘long as possible’, until there is a change in the habit of citizens with regard to littering.
The M&CC is still hoping that authorities will one day see the need for there to be a Municipal Court, so that the magistrates’ courts would not have to be burdened with cases of littering.
For the months of October and November alone, Merriman reported, 75 persons were prosecuted for littering, and were placed before the court. That number would have been much higher had the City Constabulary been up to full strength.
Meanwhile, the Constabulary has reported that store owners are largely responsible for the garbage build-up in the capital.
City personnel would usually pick up garbage in front of the stores between 14:00 hrs and 16:00 hrs on normal working days, but the problem arises when those businesses open beyond 16:00 hrs.
Merriman said the Council has found that many persons caught littering are working for businesses, and are mandated by the owners to illegally dump their garbage.