City constables know the criminal elements at Stabroek and Bourda Markets

Dear Editor,
It’s really disturbing to hear the Chief Constable only now pinpointing the Stabroek and Bourda Markets as ‘criminal hotspots’. Throughout the years, many news reports and letters were published, and many get into details and pinpointed the source of problems and identified locations at which elements hang out.
One would not have to go far, just at any of the eastern gates of Stabroek Market, and one would see most of the nefarious activities being conducting there; viz, selling or buying of stolen jewellery, phones, drugs etc. Selling of drugs and usage are regular there, and those activities have extended beyond the gates.
I have said before that the mere presence of these people there serve as a deterrent to potential shoppers in the market; so, for a Chief Constable, who is holding that position for quite a while now, to focus his concentration on the outskirts of the markets and cannot solve the problems effecting the market directly is just downright ludicrous.
As mentioned in the news articles, indeed, the vendors are giving the constables a hell of a time; and, for years, they cannot control it, because many of the constables knows of the nefarious transactions that take place there. Sometime they themselves do transactions and collect drawbacks for these characters.
I am quite sure that the Chief Constable is fully aware that corruption is quite rampant within the Constabulary, and even though many illegal vendors would sometimes get caught, you will hear they paying a ‘fine raise’ to certain individuals within the Constabulary and are back on the road conducting business again. Just take a walk to the market and speak to a vendor and you would hear exactly what I am saying.
Editor, indeed there are gangs operating, and their modus operandi and their appearance make them easily identifiable at the car parks. Anyone could see and know they are criminals, and see them committing crimes boldly.
They are well known to many operators of taxis and minibuses, but the operators are scared to render assistance because of the gangs, and there is no protection for them.
There are many City Constables and Police ranks who know these criminals, but cannot do them anything. Indeed, crimes occur daily and quite a lot at weekends, and have been occurring for years now; and had the relevant authorities put a mechanism in place at the starting stage, it would not have escalated to the stage at which it is now.
Indeed, I know it’s a hard task the lawmen have to deal with, and I am very optimistic that there will be significant changes, although I see no convincing plans. So, for now, I will still consider the Chief Constable’s plans very ambitious; but I know changes will not happen, because these problems have been there for years, and so has he.

Respectfully,
Sahadeo Bates