By Carlena Knight
Promoters of Carnival season fetes are being called upon to do more to protect revellers’ vehicles from criminals.
The call came from Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and head of the traffic department Rodney Ellis while speaking on state media yesterday.
Ellis was referencing some recent break-ins which allegedly took place at a fete over the weekend.
The top cop added that in no way is he “passing the buck onto the promoters alone to provide adequate security” but said, based on the number of expected patrons at such events, promoters must ensure they have the appropriate manpower to safeguard people’s property as is their responsibility.
“If you are having fetes, you must also put security in place for your patrons. Yes, you hire security not only to prevent persons from jumping the fence but to protect people’s property as well,” he explained.
“That is part of your responsibility too. You can hire private security and police is involved too but you have to go a bit further to have security in these parking areas.
“If you are going to have these types of shows and you have over, let’s say, 10,000 persons coming, then most likely you will have to hire additional security because you can’t have 10,000 persons and 10 police and 10 security officers.
“You need to step up and this has been an issue. We have our part to play but we can’t send all our resources to fetes and leave the rest of the country unattended – so these promoters need to step up too and get more security,” Ellis said.
He is also calling on persons to drink responsibly and, if they intend to drink, to have a designated driver to get them home.
He said that drivers need to continue to remain vigilant on the nation’s roadways as most of the accidents seen in the current quarter – which he said have increased since Covid restrictions were eased – are as a result of persons “just not paying attention”.
Ellis also squashed any claims that there was an increased number of vehicular collisions last weekend due to drunk driving from one particular fete. In fact, he said, based on the reports he received, only two of the 20 reported collisions were linked to that event.