By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
IN RESPONSE to a series of home invasions, shootings and armed robberies in the area, police officers and Urban Renewal workers conducted a walkabout in Eastern New Providence yesterday morning.
The first stop was Step Street and Cockburn Street in the Fox Hill area. Police visited residents as well as business owners, handing out flyers and offering safety tips.
Superintendent Elaine Sands, officer in charge of the Elizabeth Estates Police Station, said they wanted to assure residents that the police are aware of what is going on and are working to rectify the situation.
“The walkabout was designed to let the public know we are aware of their concerns. We went from door to door talking to them and listening to them and trying to find out if there was a crime trend they were concerned about,” she said.
“We also provided them with crime prevention tips and information on how to keep their home and families safe.
“We normally have housebreaking and we had a few shootings and a murders last week, so we were also reassuring the residents here and asking them to support us, as well as gathering any information that we can find. We need them just as much as they need us.”
As officers were conducting the walkabout, they came across a partially stripped stolen car in the bushes at the end of Rolle Terrance, Fox Hill.
Supt Sands said it appears that the culprits began to strip the car but didn’t finish. She said officers will remove the car and carry it to the police station.
Officer in charge of Urban Renewal, Superintendent Stephen Dean said the programme is partnering with all divisions and providing them with the man power to provide information to their respective communities.
He said: “We believe in prevention. While we are doing a good job and putting in a good effort in detection, prevention is still critical. So we believe that if we put more effort into prevention we will see a reduction in crime.
“We have found that more than 50 per cent of the crimes, had there been preventative measures, the crime would have most likely not occurred.
“So we will be systematically going into all the divisions and supplying them with manpower to help with the education process. In a lot of cases where we educated the communities, we have seen a reduction in crime.”
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