REGION Three, thus far in the year, has recorded a 100 per cent increase in murders compared to the previous year and Regional Commander, Errol Watts, blamed the situation on drugs and alcohol consumption. Thus far in the year, 23 murders were recorded in the region, compared to 12 murders in 2019 and 11 the year before. “The bottom line of all these murders has to do with alcohol consumption and abuse, persons engaged in selling drugs. We also have a domestic violence situation in this region. Instead of people sitting down and talking about their matters, they go to the extreme,” explained Watts, who took over as commander of the region in August of this year. One of the most recent murders in the region occurred on November 27 where Jennifer “Judith” Anderson, 62, was allegedly murdered by her son, Devon Anderson, 38, who is said to be a drug addict, and regularly abused his mother.

Watts shared that thus far, police in the region have been able to solve 95 per cent of the murders. Of the 23 murders that have occurred thus far in the region, 17 persons have been charged for murder, four for manslaughter and two inquests were held. Watts shared that improved measures are being put in place to tackle crime in the region and the police has a handle on the situation. “I am satisfied as the commander that we are set to ensuring crime and security is kept under control. We have our 31 anti-crime booths set up across the region. We have seen a significant reduction in the occurrences of crime. Importantly and strategically, we have our fixed point anti-crime monitoring going on at the Harbour Bridge. We also monitor the Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling, the Parika Ferry Stelling, and we work with the COVID-19 team,” Watts said.

NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL
The region’s police force has also already worked out its security plans for the Christmas season and has warned residents that it will not be business as usual, particularly given the COVID-19 restrictions in effect. “Christmas eve night we will have a special operation at Vreed-en-Hoop, where persons normally commute. This year will not be normal, we will not allow persons to come out in large numbers because of COVID-19. So we are going to prevent that early. As well these explosives those persons are using and is customary around this time, we will have systems in place to counter that,” he said. Since assuming the post, Watts said the police have also been going out into the fields to meet with the residents of the various communities across the region, to get their say and see what ideas and suggestions could be garnered for the police to incorporate into the plans they implement going forward. “For the year 2020, we have created a crime plan which includes community meetings. We went all across the region where we engaged persons throughout. We listened to their concerns and received valid information from them and based on those information received, we are rolling out our raids and anti-crime measures to ensure we intercept persons, especially those engaging in illegal activities involving marijuana, alcohol or stolen articles,” Watts explained.

FULL SUPPORT
He added that: “We have gotten the full support of the citizenry in Region Three and police administration in terms of giving us encouragement. And we are open to objective criticism, as long as we see positive in them we will change to suit what is going on.” Watts said various training has also been ongoing with the ranks in the region to better equip them with the skills to handle situations that arise. A number of ranks were recently involved in noise nuisance training with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) while a number of ranks have also been trained in first aid assistance.  “Under the leadership of a doctor and his team from GPHC Emergency, the ranks were certified and are now qualified to render first-aid in cases where needed,” Watts shared. Robust efforts are also being made to tackle the traffic situation in the region where death by dangerous driving is one of the most prevalent crimes. “We have established six traffic booths throughout the West Bank and West Coast. The booths are strategically placed and have been proving to be very effective with a positive effect on slowing down the traffic,” Watts said. The commander explained that the focus in the region is wider than just charging errant drivers, but is more focused on changing the overall culture of drivers in the region. “We believe in education, encouragement, enforcement, our last intention is to charge. We believe if we can change the culture we can get more compliance,” Watts said.