A TASK force to see about either halting or reducing an astonishing rise in car thefts, which begun last year and continue into this year, is still to get moving. But the top cops responsible, Assistant Commissioners Wayne Charlery and George Nicholas, are not too perturbed that the task force is still stuck at a ‘Major Road’.
The two cops say the force is undergoing measures that tackle this situation, both pointing to the ongoing police operations in several communities, including the City of Castries, where armed and unarmed police officers are seen, daytime and nighttime, searching vehicles.
Nicholas told reporters yesterday that the task force is “still a work in progress” — one which “we are still working on”—but also claiming “the task force is up and running, in part…”
“We are not in the ideal position that we would want to be as far as that is concerned, but we cannot wait until then,” Nicholas said.
Admitting that vehicle theft is an ongoing concern of the police force, Nicholas noted that investigators are building on the capacity of the force that would eliminate the problem in the long run.
The alarming rate of car thefts in the country had even Home Affairs and National Security Minister Hermangild Francis to speak out on the matter.
The Minister, just about a year ago, called on the members of the force to put an end to this particular crime. He even took members of the force to task by stating that they were not working efficiently to tackle the matter.
Last year, a number of vehicle owners found themselves making public appeals for help, whether in the local press or through social media, in locating their vehicles.
Some vehicles have been found intact, others stripped of their parts — and still others incinerated.
Minister Francis at the time called for a task force to deal with the matter — and to send a strong message to persons bent on stealing vehicles.
