By Richardson Dhalai Thursday, November 27 2008

Despite the onset of the hectic Christmas shopping season, business owners in the Penal/Debe district have imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on their businesses due to the escalating crime situation within the community.

The move was revealed by the Penal/Debe Chamber public relations officer, Mickey Mahabir, who stated that armed robberies were now occurring at a rate of one robbery per day over the past two weeks.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Mahabir said while the business community was sympathetic to the lack of resources within the police service, the chamber insisted that measures had to be put in place to address the spiralling crime rate. “We need joint army, police patrols in this area because the situation is getting more and more frightening every day. In fact it has reached a stage where businesses are closing earlier and earlier, and people have imposed a curfew on themselves and their families,” he said.

Mahabir added, “We have suggested that the manpower needs of the police service could be improved by bringing out more Special Reserve Police, (SRP’s) and allowing them to work longer hours, and more often.”

He also stated that several business owners had been robbed while on their way to deposit monies with bandits making off with “tens of thousands of dollars.”

“And to add insult to injury, whenever a report is made, citizens have to hear the same old story of no vehicles, no manpower. At the end of the day when all indications appear that we are heading into a financial crisis to lose lives and money in this manner, is not easy to bear,” he said.

Mahabir pointed out that within recent months, officers at the Penal police station had become severely handicapped since one of the station’s two vehicles was now in need of repairs.