Mocha residents’ actions attracts Commander’s presence - Police to increase patrols, ranks at Outpost

Mocha residents’ actions attracts Commander’s presence – Police to increase patrols, ranks at Outpost

Nov 14, 2019 News

By Shikema Dey

Following a string of complaints coming from residents of Mocha on East Bank Demerara, the Regional Commander, Senior Superintendent Kurleigh Simon, on Monday held a community meeting with the aim of addressing the concerns.

Commander Senior Superintendent Kurleigh Simon addressing Mocha residents.

Among the major issues highlighted by the residents was the slow or sometimes no response by ranks at the Mocha Outpost.
Kaieteur News understands that this happens as a result of a shortage of ranks at the Outpost.
Commander Simon in response to this complaint pledged to ensure that such a problem does not reoccur.
It was revealed that crimes were committed in the area yet no police ranks visit the scenes, and in some cases, sometimes weeks after the acts were carried out.
According to the Commander, “The outstanding reports were dealt with on spot, those included statements that were not taken from complainants and crime scenes that were not visited”.
Another major complaint coming out of the meeting was the allegation that most of these crimes are committed by juveniles.
To this, a suggestion was made by the Commander to develop a register of unemployed youths with the aim of helping them find employment or skills training.
The residents put forward that a partnership be developed with the parents, school welfare and police to address the issue of truancy.
Commander Kurleigh Simon further added that more ranks will soon be stationed at the Mocha Police Outpost to address the short staff issue.
The Commander also met with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council at their monthly statutory meeting.
There, it was agreed that a representative from the NDC be present at both the monthly and quarterly meetings with the Station Sergeant and Deputy Commander with the aim of building a partnership approach to address the issues affecting the residents.