As the city of Georgetown lights up with shoppers as the Christmas season nears there is the unavoidable searching and jostling for parking spots creating congestion in the city.
Added to that some of our minibus and hire car designated parks are poorly lit at nights and with the menace of ever-present rampant gangs, many commuters have been robbed.
This seeming norm in criminal activities at these parks’ environ which creates high risks for all who depend on public transportation, especially women and children. Children are also exposed to these dangers. With no alternative, commuters have to take those risks every day with fear lingering in their mindsets at a place that is literally a stone’s throw away from the country’s Parliament Building.
Many questions abound.
The Georgetown Mayor and Council cannot be oblivious of the security concerns at all transportation parks within the city for incidents of robberies continue to be highlighted in the media. On the surface, it appears that safety and other concerns of commuters were still not given the necessary consideration.
It is time that the M&CC make effort towards some lighting around these areas. We have seen the Guyana Police Force have some lifted some level of security presence as ranks are dispatched around the city. However, it is not adequate and from reports, the security presence is not sustained especially in the evenings and late into the nights.
Even if the necessary security measures are implemented at the parks, it is not a guarantee that crime will disappear. However, it will offer a much needed and effective deterrent allowing for almost immediate response and very importantly, comfort the troubling mindsets.
Adequate and necessary security measures, including effective lighting, should be in place at all minibus parks. It therefore is mindboggling as why such necessary things are not implemented and sustained in the city. All of the bus and car parks within the city are security risks and all are poorly lit including some main roads that lead to them.
That, and the criminal activities it encourages, continues to compromise that aspect of public safety. This is a continuous cycle and with every passing day frustration and fear among commuters increase. One can argue that if the City Council is really concern about commuters’ safety, it would be making more noise increased Police presence in the evenings, even if it’s just to appease.
The knowledge and presence of security measures have positive psychological effects. Its absence, or being grossly inadequate, causes one to wonder if the leadership and the rest of Council really understand the magnitude of what transpires at those parks especially in the evenings and nights and particularly at the East Bank one in question.
There is great difficulty in accepting the Council being unaware which brings to the fore the frightening scenario of the current inadequacies probably being accepted as adequate with believably scant regard for commuters’ safety.
The Police implements generally effective and pleasing security mechanisms for the Christmas period with temporary outposts at various points. The positive effect of that is known. The obvious question is why it cannot be sustained to some extent with emphasis on the parks throughout the year?
Last year the GPF in its Christmas security plan, which was aimed at keeping communities across the country safe this holiday season, had not only increase the presence of cops, but had said that it was using drone technology. This is a good move and should be a sustained move to keep areas such a minibus parks safe.
While the force has its own constraints over resources, collaboration with the Council and strategic planning can result in an acceptable and adequate mechanism that can have the city secure.
