A GROUP of young men, ages 10 to 19, are “wreaking havoc” on the Stabroek Market Square as they continue to operate within a network while committing robberies, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) warned on Thursday.
Acting Chief Constable Laurel Gittens told reporters that around this season, the main areas for crime are located around Stabroek, especially at the ‘Hospital,’ Kitty, Sophia, East Coast and East Bank Demerara bus parks.
“Intelligence on the ground has revealed that there is a gang of young men who are wreaking havoc on the bus parks,” Public Relations Officer Debra Lewis added.
The juveniles have been reportedly snatching cellphones and handbags from unsuspecting citizens; in some cases being when persons were seated next to a mini-bus window, either talking or texting on their phones.
According to Gittens, several reports of foreigners being robbed were received in September, with their passports, ID cards and other important documents being stolen. The gang is said to also be preying on school children.
Gittens noted that along with heightened patrols during this season, officers are working on a shift system and plain clothes officers are also stationed at strategic points.
Gittens is advising the public not to walk with large sums of money; walk along lonely stretches of areas; and pulling out their expensive phones in the public squares.
Gittens is also encouraging members of the public to stop a constable if they feel that someone is trailing them.
“Most of the criminal activities are being committed by juveniles; young school-leavers. Some of them are well educated, but because they are unemployed they are finding illegal things to do,” Gittens told the Guyana Chronicle in a previous interview.
She noted that the parents of these juveniles are in their 20s and early 30s, and hence find it a challenge to cope. “Having to deal with these teenagers is not an easy task, because of the opposition they put up. So as a paramilitary organisation and collaboration with the police force, we should have seminars to sensitise the parents of these children so as to get them involved in vocational activities,” she urged.
Substantive Chief Constable Andrew Foo, who proceeded on 42 days of vacation leave earlier this week, had said that a policing plan needs to be in place to deal with the security issues arising as a result of increased shopping during the Christmas season.
Foo said in a recent interview that one of the difficulties being experienced by the City Constabulary is that it has to work with limited resources.
Earlier this year, he reported that the constabulary is short of approximately 140 staff members and that efforts to recruit more workers were not bearing much fruit.
While the constabulary is expected to provide security throughout Georgetown, Foo said the lack of resources will mean that the officers will have to confine themselves to the main shopping areas for Christmas — Bourda and Stabroek Markets.
“We have a mandate to ensure that we establish a presence in the city. It is necessary that we have a policing plan to cover the entire city, but we are not able to do so. So we will ensure we confine ourselves to the commercial areas, Stabroek and Bourda. All of our resources are going to be deployed to the Stabroek and Bourda areas. Those are the areas that are heavy in terms of commercial activities, and therefore, it is necessary that we have a policing presence there,” Foo said.
