Police Commissioner: Try other beaches

COMMISSIONER OF POLICE Gary Griffith suggested that people try to visit beaches other than the popular ones, to make it easier for police to enforce the public health regulations.

Griffith said police will continue to monitor the more popular beaches such as Maracas, Blanchisseuse, Tyrico Bay, Williams’ Bay and Maqueripe.

“The logic behind police continuing to patrol is to ensure the law is enforced," he explained. "Many breach the regulations on the beach and it makes it difficult to monitor the beaches if there is a large number of people.”

Griffith said when the beach is densely packed with people it makes it difficult for police to monitor the behaviours of each beachgoer who might be eating, drinking, or coming in or out the water since have to keep a keen eye on individuals to ensure they adhere to covid19 regulations where applicable.

Griffith said people should think about going to larger beaches where they could spread out.

“We need to spread our wings and look at other beaches. Mayaro has miles of beach and there we would not have the same concern.”

He said police would be on the lookout for people playing loud music from their cars, as that could cause more people to congregate and make the job of monitoring citizens more difficult. Police will also look at the capacity of car parks and when they are full will tell beachgoers not to park on the road.

He said, however, that police would not be left short-handed by patrolling the beaches.

“The country could rest assured that we are able to use our officers in an efficient manner,” he said.

On Sunday, police staged roadblocks and displayed a heavy presence along the North Coast. In a tweet, Griffith debunked as fake news a release purported to be from the police saying they would be closing beaches.