Some Traffic Police simply incompetent

EDITOR: During the recently completed elections campaign, Vincentians experienced some very poor (or non existent) police planning. In almost every village where there was a major political meeting, it was accompanied by a massive road block which at times lasted for hours. {{more}}

I recall being stuck in Biabou for close to two hours, similarly in Barrouallie for over an hour. Most Vincentians would have had similar experiences. (Not enough use is made of the side roads).

Saturday, January 14, 2006, (Argyle moonlight party) was a repeat of the above. I was stuck in traffic for over an hour between the Argyle Bridge and Travelers Bar. Several fruitless calls were made to Police Headquarters, where the police were not aware of the situation, and simply advised that there were four police officers and an Inspector on the spot to solve the problem. If this were the case, given the traffic congestion, the police were simply ineffective.

The point is that when there are these anticipated massive crowds, the police are to take charge of the situation early, by announcing on the radio that parking will only be permitted on one side of the road, stating that the tow truck will be on duty for any vehicles not adhering to the traffic regulations. In addition, there should be one or two traffic police officers on motorbikes patrolling the road at least two hours prior to the commencement of the function. At such functions, five policemen are not enough.

Just imagine that there is an emergency requiring an ambulance or fire truck in the area where there is such a function, – what would be the result?

There seems to be no senior police officers on call in case of an emergency. The policeman answering 71211 seems not to have a clue as to what is to be done, or whom to refer the call to.

Flamingo