English Harbour Break-in Victim At Wits' End

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police

Friday, 10 August 2012 02:30

By caribarena news

Antigua St. John's - On the heels of two rescheduled meetings with Parliamentary Representative for St. Paul's Eleston "Namba" Adams, unresponsive police officers and damaged relations with immediate members of the community, a disgruntled US citizen living in Antigua has pledged never to recommend the country to family or friends and to remain only for the purposes of fulfilling contractual obligations.

On August 4 Caribarena had published a story regarding an incident of robbery that took place in the English Harbour community, and the alleged inability of the Dockyard Police to swiftly respond to the situation.

The victims had pleaded a case of breach of privacy above the matter of theft, noting the former to be of graver significance than the item stolen.

One of the victims told Caribarena on Thursday that after his failure in dealing with the police officers charged with protecting him, he had sought an audience with Minister Adams but two scheduled meetings were cancelled in two days.

He said if another were not had by the middle of next week, he would proceed to seek audience with the Prime Minister himself.

On Wednesday, the victim had managed to hold talks with Assistant Superintendent Joseph Hughes who is said to be the supervising officer for Dockyard Police Outpost, and of all the encounters he has had over the past month regarding the incident, he seems convinced that Hughes is the lone candidate in his corner.

“I get the impression that he is working very hard to bring the department up to par with accountability and professionalism, but I am also of the opinion that he has a huge challenge on this hands,” the victim said, adding that the clear defiance from the junior officers towards the superintendent had done little to instill any renewed confidence from his part.

He pointed out that during his talks with the superintendent it was revealed that the officers had actually been inaccurate with their dealings with him. New information suggested that the lone surveillance camera outside the property in question might not have been pointed to the entrance as previously believed.

This assumption had led to the suspicion that the culprit might have come from within the property, and this had created some level of discomfort that resulted in the victim having to relocate.

The victim noted that the superintendent admitted that his officers had “dropped the ball,” and has pledged a speedy resolution. In his officers’ defense, according to the victim, the superintendent had suggested that one of the constables who dealt with the case initially was still considered “inexperienced”, having “only been on the force for three years”.

“I know they probably don't have the manpower to prevent the crime and what it takes to get the item back or even solve the crime but they could have at least prevented further damage from happening between residents in the community by acting promptly,” he said. “But they are stalling activity on the case because I went and advocated for my rights.”



He reiterated that he and his fellow community members were “on our own” since their safety was clearly not important to the people tasked with maintaining it.

“That's the message I’m getting here. We are sitting ducks out here. I have to believe that the criminals in this community must know that the cops are not up to the challenge and they use it to their advantage. We should all be issued gun licenses so we can protect ourselves,” he said.

He expressed great disappointment in the manner in which constituency representative Eleston Adams has responded to the matter, especially considering the fact that he has through the media expressed concern in the rising issue of crime in the community, as well as his willingness to assist in getting the situation under control.

“I don't know who is telling truth. The message I receive, as an expat, is that you are on your own. They can come rob you, assault you and do whatever they want and the cops won’t do anything about it and neither would the politicians. I’ve been living here for three years and I still haven’t adjusted yet. It’s like a time warp. I won’t recommend this place to anyone,” he said.

In the meantime, Police spokesman Senior Sergeant William Holder maintains that his office could not speak on matters involving the integrity of police officers unless authorized by the Police Commissioner. He also notes that his office has not been brought up to speed with this particular case.

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