Northern cops vow to tackle robberies, car thefts in Arima

Officers of the Northern Division say they intend to focus their efforts on stopping robberies and car thefts, as they met and spoke with residents during a confidence walk on Wednesday morning.

The walk began on Pinto Road, as over 50 officers interacted with residents in Train Line Road, Freedom Street, Sesame Street and Mt Zion Road, Arima.

This is the second confidence walk done by the Northern Division.

The first walkabout was done in Five Rivers, Arouca, in March.

Speaking with Newsday after the walk, ACP Wayne Mystar of the Northern Division said the walks were intended to restore the public's trust in the police and allowed residents to interact with their divisional police officers.

He said, during the walk, several residents raised concerns over a series of robberies and car thefts in the area.

"A few residents have issues about the robberies so they wanted a greater police presence in order to deal with that.

"The responses and feedback we got, gave us a clear idea on which tools and resources we should to deploy to address these crimes.

"The residents told us that the robberies usually happen at a particular time in the afternoon and location, so with that in mind, we can deploy officers to keep watch on these areas."

In terms of violent crime, Mystar said while murders were still one of the main priorities of the police, the amount of murders in Arima were not as high as other communities.

He said the confidence walks were a good opportunity to build a rapport with residents, noting that crime prevention was also a vital part of the strategy.

"As school was closed we got to interact with a lot of parents and their children, so we took the opportunity to encourage and enroll a few children into the Police Youth Clubs.

"This is a secondary crime prevention strategy we use to get them in the Youth Clubs with a certain level of supervision.

"It was very productive, because a lot of the residents have indicated their willingness to work with us."

The confidence walk is one part of Operation Grand Slam which was initiated by Mystar in January.

Also involved in the exercise was ASP Rajkumar and Sgt Naitram of the Northern Division.

The Northern Division North consists of Maloney, Arima, La Horquetta and Wallerfield.