The prevalence of petty crimes and the ‘convenient’ Stabroek Market area

Jun 12, 2018 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
The prevalence of petty crimes in Guyana is on the rise and in my opinion is not being addressed; a decrease in the reporting of crimes, due to lack of confidence in the security systems, might cause the actual figures to be higher significantly.
Two days ago, I videoed three young criminals running away after robbing an individual, who I later learnt was one Avinash (only name given). How was I so lucky to be videoing at the same time these three young criminals had commissioned a crime? It’s nothing new. I have become known for having videos of crimes going down, but this was situation was different.
I was sitting in a short drop car park around 5:15 pm on Sunday, just outside the Fire Station, and overheard the driver talking about the frequency in which robberies were happening in the area, and he made it sound like robberies happen every hour in that area.
Being the type of person I am, I was thinking, if what this man said was true, then there was a high likelihood that if I were just running my camera for the five minutes that we were sitting and waiting for more passengers, I might catch a scene – that was if what he was saying was true.
So I started to record, and lo and behold, within two minutes, three young boys ran past, in clear sight of my camera, and someone could be heard shouting in the background.
I was still sitting there for a few seconds recording before I realized that the three boys had just robbed a man.
I exited the car and went to where I saw a man bracing a car and looking like he was dazed, by then a crowd had gathered around him, some were asking him if he got robbed, while others were talking about what they had seen.
I asked the man – who looked like he was in his early thirties – what his name was, and was told Avinash. I then inquired what he was robbed of, and he said, a phone and about eight thousand dollars. I was about to take some facts from him, when someone who seemed to know him, came up and asked if he was robbed and was told the same thing I was. The gentleman took some money out of his pocket and gave the victim and told him to use it for passage, and told him not to bother to report it since it was a regular thing out there and the police would just waste his time.
I attempted to explain to Avinash that to report the matter would be the right thing to do, but to no avail, Avinash’s facial expression was one that showed the loss of hope in a system. It was a very worrying sign to me.
Because of my physical structure, and the fact that I am fairly well known in Georgetown, it is highly unlikely that someone would attempt to rob me, but if it were to happen, I too would feel beaten, lost and betrayed by a system that is supposed to protect me. This incident happened in clear view of the City Police outpost that is housed in the same building as the Fire Station, and is only feet away from the incident.
Avinash had given up, but I had not given up on him. I was on my way to the police outpost at the back of the Fire Station, since the City Police and I don’t have one of the best relationships (as a result of the parking meter episode), when I realized, time was of the essence. If Avinash were to get even just some satisfaction as it related to this incident, I would have to move fast.
So I turned back and headed in the direction of the other bus parks – like Sophia, Back Road and Lodge – with the hope of seeing if I could put faces to the three youths whom I had only seen from behind, and only had a description of their clothes.
My path led me just in front of the Stabroek Market. As I passed the point of the Market that was closest to Brickdam, where the 32 Bus Park is, and just mere feet away from the City Police outpost, I noticed something astounding; most of the persons in the vicinity were smoking weed.
Two individuals were in some business dealings with a phone, and a number of others were conversing. I was given glances by those who didn’t know of me, and was ‘hailed up’ by those who knew me.
What I can say, is most of the persons who are allowed to congregate at that area, have some sort of criminal record, and that’s a fact. What I can also say, is that they have strategically placed themselves at a position where they have the ability to look for victims and pounce on them a little down the road. There are thousands of individuals traversing that area on a daily basis and these criminal elements are allowed to be there, looking for unsuspecting victims and pouncing on them at free will.
I subsequently learnt of another robbery that was committed on an individual around 7:30 am the same day.
There need to be some questions asked of the authorities and I will ask them.
1: Are the security forces deliberately turning a blind eye to the famous Stabroek “under the Clock area” that is harbouring thieves? And why is this so?
2: Wouldn’t the Police patrols that frequent the seawall aback of the Marriott Hotel area every half hour, starting in the evening, looking to catch persons in sexual acts, with the intention of exploiting them,(and I say exploitation, since I have not heard of any recent cases of people being charged for having sex in a public place) better serve the Citizenry of Guyana by constantly patrolling the areas that are more likely to have criminal activity, like the Stabroek area?
3: How can a Police rank or patrol pass in the vicinity of the Stabroek Market area where more than 15 known criminal elements have congregated, and not be cognizant of the fact that persons who look vulnerable and passing that area, will be preyed upon?

Guyanese Critic

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