Latest update June 1st, 2026 12:37 AM
We must use the technology
Dear Editor,
I endorse your editorial of Aug 9 that we “must use the technology” (referring to use of cameras) to solve or prevent crimes. In developed countries, cameras (CCTV) are installed at strategic locations as an anti-crime measure. These cameras have allowed police to solve many crimes and make arrests of the culprits.
Just last month, police used the cameras to arrest a couple of Guyanese in their arson crime in Richmond Hill where some 100,000 Guyanese are settled in the greater community.
One of the wanted men is still on the run. I am informed that the men broke into a store on Liberty Avenue, in the heart of Little Guyana, and set it on fire damaging hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stocks.
The men (described as rummies by people on Liberty Ave) are reported to have told people they set the place on fire because they felt someone was throwing things at them.
However, no one from the store was engaged in such act. The fire made news. One of the arsonists ran away to Guyana believing he would escape attention. But when he returned, he was picked up at immigration at JFK and held without bail. The police were able to identify the culprits through the CCTV cameras.
Police were also able to make headways into several unsolved cases of robberies, murders and hooliganism in the Richmond Hill area as a result of the use of cameras.
For years, the community was targeted by bandits from outside who thought the community residents, being mostly immigrants (Guyanese, Trinis, Punjabis) were easy victims for robberies. ‘Choke and rob’ had increased. Several businessmen were robbed and a few even killed.
The community made a lot of noise for effective police action and the politicians pressured the police to act.
The police set up cameras at several street corners. Crime has been down since the use of cameras. I can’t recall when was the last time someone from Richmond Hill was murdered by bandits since cameras were installed.
Vishnu Bisram
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