A manpower shortage closed the Arawak Cay Police Station on New Year’s night and during such time, a fight between a gang of girls occurred οΎ– forcing revellers to flea the area.
Inspector Evans said local stations were running on “skeleton crews,” as more than half of the island’s officers were drafted in for Junkanoo.
At the Fish Fry, revellers scrambled for cover, as bottles and rocks were hurled in a no-holds barred fight.
Gangs of girls smashed bottles and threw rocks, cans and other missiles at each other, with not a single police officer in sight.
“Quite a bit of resources were put into preparation for Junkanoo and if you find the station like that, then it means a single officer might have been on patrol,” Insp Evans said. ” So there may have been one officer who might have been on duty at the station. All areas of the force were affected and we were running on what we called a skeleton crew.
“Even still [the incident] was before Junkanoo, we had to pull manpower in time to work and officers had to be pulled from all areas of the force so those officers had to be rotated.”
One stall owner called the catfight a disgrace and said he was baffled that the police station appeared to be closed during one of the busiest nights of the year.
“Where are the policemen,” he repeatedly asked. “This is crazy, these people fighting like animals and the station closed. That’s sad man.”
The Guardian contacted the Arawak Cay Police Station yesterday and it was open. But Corporal Carey admitted that only one officer was scheduled to man the station on Sunday night. She said that New Year’s Junkanoo was the reason for the manpower crisis.
Corporal Carey added that although the station was shut down on Sunday, the on-site station is usually up and running and officers are always on patrol in the area.
“We only had one officer working [Sunday] and that officer might have been on patrol in another area,” she said. “But I can’t say why the station was locked. Or the officer that was scheduled to work out here, was probably getting some rest for the Junkanoo situation [and] sometimes we even have to help the Fort Charlotte station because they are short, so that may have been another reason.”
She added that fights are a rare occurrence at Fish Fry, claiming that groups of officers are strategically stationed on Arawak Cay.
By: IANTHIA SMITH, The Nassau Guardian
