An­na-Lisa Paul

Move to re­solve wreck­ing is­sue

Act­ing Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Stephen Williams is ex­pect­ed to at­tend an emer­gency meet­ing with the Down­town Own­ers and Mer­chants As­so­ci­a­tion (Do­ma) and oth­er stake­hold­ers at the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty, Port-of-Spain, this morn­ing af­ter con­cerns were ex­pressed about how the po­lice wreck­ing op­er­a­tions were neg­a­tive­ly af­fect­ing busi­ness own­ers and shop­pers.

Asked if he was pre­pared to re­view the po­lice plan to cre­ate a safer shop­ping en­vi­ron­ment with­in Port-of-Spain, Williams replied: "I am go­ing there with an open mind." The act­ing CoP said the main ob­jec­tive was en­sur­ing the city was se­cure and safe for shop­pers, vis­i­tors, work­ers and res­i­dents.

Point­ing out they had met with Do­ma be­fore rolling out the Safe City Ini­tia­tive, which in­cludes stricter en­force­ment of traf­fic reg­u­la­tions, Williams said: "We didn't just get up one morn­ing and de­cide to go in­to the city of Port-of-Spain and be­gin wreck­ing ve­hi­cles. We met with Do­ma and shared our thrust and how we were go­ing about cre­at­ing a safe city and the ra­tio­nale for so do­ing."

Wreck­ing was on­ly part of the po­lice plan, Williams ex­plained. He added: "At the end of the day, our mis­sion is to en­sure a re­duc­tion in crime in T&T, a re­duc­tion in law­less­ness and to cre­ate an en­vi­ron­ment which is safer for every­one. "The plan will con­tin­ue as we pur­sue this aim to make Port-of-Spain safer and then ex­tend op­er­a­tions to cre­ate safe cities, towns and bor­oughs across T&T."

Ask­ing why peo­ple re­fused to park at strate­gic lo­ca­tions and walk to do their busi­ness and shop­ping, Williams said that was a case of: "Damned if I do and damned if I don't." He said it was a dou­ble-edged sword. "If the po­lice ne­glects its oblig­a­tions to so­ci­ety, peo­ple com­plain about poor per­for­mance but if the po­lice pur­sues en­force­ment, peo­ple com­plain about too much en­force­ment," he added.

Williams said 159 Spe­cial Re­serve Po­lice would be in­tro­duced as ad­di­tion­al sup­port re­sources from Mon­day.