UWI students need police protection

I have noted that a group of people seeking the interest of foreign yachties have held a meeting with Deputy Commissioner of Police Ewatski to voice concerns over the crime wave that seems to specifically target the yachties. Mention was also made of the lackadaisical attitude of the Carenage police. Please permit me to point the DCP to another group that is even more deserving of police protection than the yachties—university students who reside in and around UWI. At least twice a week, a student in this area is either raped, held up at gunpoint or has their car stolen. Going to the St Joseph Police Station is simply a formality for insurance purposes.

The People’s Partnership promised to transform this area into a “student town;” I beg to suggest that the most effective starting point would be to make our students safe. These are young people whose entire lives are shattered when they are subject to the kinds of crime being perpetrated in the area. They keep late hours not solely to party like some would like to believe, but because they need to use the library, have group meetings etc to study. Is there any good reason the St Joseph police cannot have dusk-to-dawn patrols throughout the area, seven days a week? Any resident of the area can enlighten the police about the area’s hotspots.

Leela Persad
Via e-mail