THREE stalls have been broken into over the past weekend at the ‘Russel Square’ outside of the Stabroek Market in Georgetown, and acting Town Clerk, Sherry Jerrick, reported on Tuesday that the City Constabulary has no security plan in place for that area.

Speaking at the statutory meeting at City Hall, Jerrick informed that the incidents occurred between last Saturday night and Sunday morning.

She said she tried to find out from Chief Constable Andrew Foo what security plan is in place, and he responded that there was none.

Asked to respond, Foo told councillors that that area would require about six additional officers and round the clock coverage.

“The Chief Constable has responded with no solution to the problem. I don’t know what’s really happening with the City Police Department. It’s sad what those people at Russel Square have to go through,” Mayor Ubraj Narine offered.

Officers from the Engineers Department could not say definitively what happened to the chain link fence that was constructed around the entire area.

Councillor Patricia Chase-Green rose to say that those engineers who cannot give an account for the fence should be made to pay for it, since money was expended by the council to construct it.

A decision was taken for an investigation to be launched into the removal of the perimeter fence around the said area.
Engineer Rasheed Kellman offered that the fence was vandalised by stallholders and social rejects.

In August 2018, the council had declared the Stabroek Market wharf unfit for human habitation and later invited vendors to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which among other things, would require them to construct their own stalls in accordance with certain specifications.

Following these plans, a portion of the wharf was gutted by fire in November 2018, which further contributed to the deterioration of the facility.