Merai says domestic violence, suicides top priority in Berbice

May 28, 2011 News

Police Commander of ‘B’ Division, Stephen Merai, has said that his division is fully cognizant of the crime situation and that every possible avenue is being utilized to tackle the problems.
He made the comments at the recently held graduation ceremony at the Felix Austin Police College. Merai noted that the press, especially the newspapers, are saturated with reports of criminal activities, especially those about overseas-based Guyanese returning and being attacked and robbed here.
“If you look at the volume of the people coming in [the country] and the number of reports we are getting, the press will kind of make it sound as if all of them who come are being robbed.
“In one way, it makes us look bad too. So, you have to report it, but we have to do a lot more work,” he said.
He said that his main concerns are crime and traffic, domestic violence and suicides. “And the suicides are kids, 12 years old, 13 years old and it’s worrying to us,” he added.
Merai stated that a friend recently called him and asked him if it is safe for him to visit Guyana.
The commander said that while the crime situation is of importance, that people should not be led astray by the “one and two reports that an overseas-based Guyanese was attacked and robbed.”
Deportees in Guyana, he said, are a major problem, especially on the Corentyne. “People don’t seem to keep track of the number of deportees coming back. And there are hundreds of them, in Berbice alone, in Tain, etc.
“They have a special way of life, because they were living out there.
They just sit and wait; they don’t work. And they look around and it’s easy to know when people come from abroad, and they pounce on them and rob them,” he noted.
Merai said that there are a lot of “bottom-house drug blocks” in Berbice where many boys congregate to smoke marijuana. He said that when they can’t get the money to buy the drugs, they commit crimes.
The official stated that Berbicians find it a culture to drink and drive as well. “We are trying to change that, because when you drink and drive, you will end up like one of our own [officers].” He was referring to 22-year-old Officer Michael Anthony who was involved in an accident on the Line Path Corentyne Road early Sunday morning.
“He took the car and start driving it, after they were partying the night. Fast rate of speed, crash up, policeman died,” he said.
He noted that domestic violence reports at the various police stations in the region are being taken very seriously than before. “Now we’re looking at it in a very serious manner. We have to take those reports very seriously, and work on them”, he said.
Criminals who smashed the wall of a home of gas station owners of Wellington Park on the Corentyne, last year, were captured through lots of hard work and pressure by the Commander and his team.
He said that the matter worried him greatly, since in his 32 years in the police force, he never heard of criminals smashing down the walls of people’s homes, so the incident engaged his attention.
“If you enter people’s homes by smashing down a wall, you’re not safe; nobody’s safe in the home,” he stated.
He took pride in capturing the criminal gang, since he had previously promised Berbicians that the gang would be found.
It took the police a year to find the weapons. He said that the police knew the gang and a few names of persons in the gang. “We cannot assure you that crime will end this afternoon. We will have to continue to work hard with the community; with the policing groups; with the chambers of commerce,” he said.

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Merai says domestic violence, suicides top priority in Berbice

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