An Ottley Hall resident has urged the police to deal with residents’ complaints about what might appear to be petty matters, saying doing so can prevent more serious crimes.
The man, who said he is referred to as “Forces”, “Monster”, “Tall Boy”, “Bandy Waist”, noted at the police town hall meeting in Edinboro on Thursday that the police were asking the public to cooperate with them.
“But sometimes when you do not act on information that you might see as petty could just fall into big issues,” Forces told the open forum of the town hall meeting, which was attended by senior police officers, including the Deputy Commissioner of Police Frankie Joseph and head of the Criminal Investigation Department, Superintendent Clauston Francis.
The resident said that one of his trucks was set on fire last year, and he reported the matter to the police, telling them who he suspected was the culprit.
“I give them the evidence but it seems like the information I got was too expensive to deal with,” he said adding that the arsonist left behind the bottles that contained the gasoline used to set the vehicle ablaze.
“I does watch CSI so I know the evidence would have been on that bottle and that would have implicated the person who burned my truck,” Forces said.
He told the meeting, however, that the police told him that the bottles would have to be sent to Trinidad for analysis.
“And it just went down like that,” the businessman said.
He said that a police officer asked him last month how the case was going and he told the officer that had forgotten about it.
“Because this is a kind of place where people would say, ‘Well, Forces, they disrespecting you.’
“You would be surprised that people will take small money to do the crime but I done realise I not on them kind of road dey,” he said.
“… sometimes, things small, oh they have a little ra-ra-ra (fracas) in the village and next thing you know they have another shooting and another killing.”
Forces said that police should not be dismissive of “these small matters when they get reported.
“It’s important to act on that because people have their issues and sometimes, they end up want to take revenge or whatever be the case.”
Forces further told the town hall meeting that a bar he used to operate was once burglarised, and he lost an amplifier, an equaliser, a generator and a laptop.
He said that an individual later turned up “showing movies in the village”.
Forces said he went to the police station in Ottley Hall and told the officers about it and they told him to go to Kingstown.
“And I went down by the police station and told them about the burglary and told them … and they told him to go to Kingstown.
“I [was] reporting a scene where my shop was broken with thousands of dollars and they tell me they don’t deal with that matter; they deal with rapid response thing with guns and crime. And they never go.”
Forces said that by the time the police responded, the suspect had hidden the stolen items.
“… But what I am saying here, sometimes, when you get matters, you have to act on them because sometimes these matters have their own little grievance and other people would decide they know who do the crime and want to take revenge or do what they have to do and all of these kinds of things that does be taking place.”
The businessman further said that he jointly owns a property with his wife and someone went and bulldozed a structure on it and built one of their own.
He said that when he complained to the police, they said they would investigate.
“… and when I try to show the lady it is private property, the woman start to give me all kind of word. And I say, ‘Well. Well. Well.’ Before, I wudda just deal with her case and today I wudda been a man arrested,” Forces told the meeting.
“But my main issue here, sometimes, when small things happen, you have to act on them because these things does blow up into big things and at the end of the day, you hear Ottley Hall again and gi’ the place a kind of bad name and make it sound so.”
He, however, said that to him, Ottley Hall is a peaceful village although it has “little crime come up here…”
This guy said it all. Shows the incompetence of the police. But do you think this would change them? I doubt it. For me this walk about is a public relation gimick
Forces is absolutely correct. Anyone even slightly familiar with theories of law enforcement has heard of the “broken windows” approach to keeping or making communities safe and secure. The broken windows theory says “visible signs of crime, antisocial behavior, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes.” Law enforcement personnel, and others in positions of community leadership, must not dismiss petty issues or incidents. If we fix the visible signs of antisocial behaviour or civil disorder, the literal or figurative broken windows, we create a greater sense of pride and community cohesion, both of which deter serious crime.