Rhondor Dowlat-Rostant
Party promoters planning events which have the potential of turning into mass gatherings will be clamped down by the police as Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith promises to intensify patrols.
Griffith, in a statement yesterday, said the police cannot be everywhere or know every event that is being planned but added that as soon as real-time information is known about any event, action will be taken.
He gave an example of the incident that occurred over the weekend on the compound of Passage to Asia in Chaguanas, where he was able to act immediately.
Griffith said he also noticed that people were posting photographs and videos on social media that are not current.
“What this does is to send the police on a wild goose chase only to find out that the photographs and videos were old.”
Griffith said there has been an increase in parties from Old Year’s Day to now.
He has asked the public to take note of Section 3 (1) of the Public Health Ordinance which states that during the period specified in Regulation 17, a person shall not, without reasonable justification– (a) be found at any public place where the number of persons gathered, at any time, exceeds ten.”
“These recent public events had more than ten persons and recent public events clearly show that persons in attendance were not wearing masks for which they have been ticketed,” Griffith said.
“The COVID-19 virus is still with us and such behaviour from members of the public can only lead to the virus being spread with more persons being affected,” he added.
“The TTPS will increase its patrols to deal with these events which are being planned, some of which are being advertised on social media, which include beaches across the country,” Griffith said.
The Commissioner has appealed to the public that as soon as they become aware of any event that has the potential to have a mass gathering, to contact 999 or whats app 482-GARY immediately.