CoP: Police will crack down on non-compliant groceries, banks

People gather at the entrance to TTPOST on St Vincent Street, Port of Spain, on Tuesday as a postal worker calls out names for people to collect pension and other cheques. - Vidya Thurab
People gather at the entrance to TTPOST on St Vincent Street, Port of Spain, on Tuesday as a postal worker calls out names for people to collect pension and other cheques. - Vidya Thurab

Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said the police were prepared to take action against businesses that did not encourage their customers to observe social distancing.

He warned institutions to take the government's call seriously to avoid gathering in numbers greater than five.

On Tuesday National Security Minister Stuart Young said government was reducing the number of people allowed to gather in public from ten to five.

In a media release from the police on Wednesday, Griffith said the police were prepared to act in cases where businesses did not adhere to the guidelines put forward by the government on social distancing.

The issue, he said, should be of major concern to critics, as the spread of the virus is more likely to come from places where people congregate in large numbers.

"Commissioner Griffith says if these persons do not adhere to their responsibilities as laid out by the chair of the National Security Council (NSC), he may be forced to close those banks, supermarkets and markets.

"The commissioner is advising people 'to get in their section', observe the markers, and only move forward when the person in front of you moves. He says that failure of these institutions to comply could lead to the TTPS closing them," the release said.

Griffith also urged young people to allow the elderly to move past them and conduct their business as quickly as possible.

He also said while banks and groceries were only allowin a small number of people inside at any given time, people tend to "bunch up" when waiting in line outside these areas.

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"CoP: Police will crack down on non-compliant groceries, banks"

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