Merchants who operate down-town shops have been urged to make any complaints about police officers directly to the commissioner’s office.
Several shop owners contacted The Tribune earlier this week, saying their repeated complaints about certain officers seem to have gone unnoticed.
They say the officers are ineffective at combating the drug problem in the area and that the Tourism Police Unit has failed to respond to calls for the officers to be replaced.
When the matter was brought to his attention yesterday, Assistant Commissioner Reginald Ferguson said that in future, the shop owners should go straight to the top – as officers who allow crime to go on “under their noses” must be dealt with.
“If it is necessary to remove them, we’ll do that, because we put them there to prevent crime. That is what we are all about – prevention,” he said.
Mr Ferguson, who is the officer-in-charge of crime, urged all citizens who observe the police behaving in an inappropriate manner to report them directly to the commissioner’s office or to senior police officials.
The shop owners, who wished to remain anonymous, said certain officers stationed near their shops consistently fail to deal with drug pushers and other “hustlers” who harass tourists walking through the area.
The merchants said they have complained several times to officers from the new Police Tourism Unit and to the Central Police Station.
When The Tribune contacted the Tourism Unit for comment on the matter, an officer who identified herself as Officer Richardson said she could not respond to the issue.
Although she acknowledged that the area in question is under the unit’s jurisdiction, Officer Richardson said the police press liaison office would have to be contacted for comment.
She added only that the shop owners know the correct procedure for making the complaints, “other than contacting The Tribune”.
“But that’s the whole problem,” said one of the merchants. “We have reported this problem repeatedly and nothing has happened.”
Source: The Tribune
