–Chief Constable begs to differ

AT least three city councillors have expressed their dissatisfaction with the bicycle patrol unit of the Constabulary Department of the Mayor and City Council.
At the Council’s most recent statutory meeting at City Hall, Councillor Ron Persaud requested a report on the operations of the ‘bicycle squad’.

Councillor Heston Bostwick said the officers are often found slacking on the job.
“I’m sure we can find them in the Promenade Gardens at this hour,” he said.
He then suggested that the officers be assigned to the various constituencies, and that if they are not enough in number, they should be rotated.

Councillor Alfred Mentore said the officers are always seen in a group, and that he doesn’t believe that the City Council is getting maximum usage of the squad.
But Chief Constable Andrew Foo told the Guyana Chronicle in an invited comment on Monday, that the squad is very limited in number. “We are unable to achieve all that we would like to because we are confined to the commercial areas and the markets; we are unable to reach Greater Georgetown,” he said.

At the moment, the patrol unit consists of just 11 members, although the Constabulary was given 30 bicycles by the United States Embassy, and had eight of its own, Foo noted.
He said applications were received, but had to be put on hold because of the City Council’s cash-strapped state.

Foo said the Promenade Gardens, which was referred to by the councillor, is an area that the unit covers because people are robbed there. Further, there have been reports of schoolchildren going there to engage in questionable conduct, Foo said.
As for the grouping up of officers, he said some areas require a collective approach.