Good Policing by Cops

[Steve Wooler]

May I offer a verbatim copy of an article published in the Tobago News today for the benefit of readers:

We join with the Tobago hoteliers in extending congratulations to the Tobago Police for their good work in achieving a 50 per cent reduction in the crime rate in Tobago.

We could recall the prevalent attacks on visitors, which were happening with regularity sometime ago and we called for action from the law enforcement authorities. The British and German authorities issued travel warnings to their citizens regarding visits to Tobago at that time but we hope they would be altered soon.

We commend ACP Rodvan Bastien who has been spearheading the assault against the criminal elements. As he said, "officers have initiated a variety of crime fighting strategies on a day-to-day basis" to stem the criminal activities on the island.

ACP Bastien provided statistics to prove the excellent work of Police officers. He noted that in the first four months of the year, there were 100 attacks against tourists, while in the second quarter there were only 48 such reports. In June, there were only two reports of robberies and break-ins and three reports in July.

ACP Bastien revealed that the Police were using different strategies to counter the criminals and we shower additional praise on the Tobago Police who we know are lacking the manpower needed to effectively carry out their work.

We take notice of the remarks of René Seepersadsingh, President of the Tobago Hoteliers Association who said he is hopeful for an increase in visitor arrivals for the next tourist season and he also praised the Police for their great work over the last four months.

We believe the security of our visitors is a priority for the success of our tourist industry.

It is clear that with the easy and fast access to Tobago, Trinidad criminals and Tobagonians who are into crime have chosen the relatively peaceful Tobago to carry out their criminal acts and we stand with our Police officers in their work to keep Tobago as a land of peace for all to enjoy.

We take this opportunity to urge the Police to be eternally vigilant for although there has been a reduction in the crime-related statistics outside of the high point of the tourist season, the real challenge for the Police will come during the next tourist season, which starts shortly.

The Police will surely be wise enough to know that the criminal bandits will be looking to prey on visitors when they are here in numbers from December.

We have confidence in the Tobago Police to keep up their assault on the criminal elements and call on the public to cooperate fully with them in their fight against crime and violence in Tobago.

The above report totally endorses everything I have heard in recent months and comes from an editor who has been highly critical of the situation in the past year or two.

[Julia C.]

Oh, that is good news.
Tobago is a beautiful Island with beautiful people. It's unfair, really, to assume that you're are safer there than anywhere else, but I felt like a child at times when we visited and that is a lovely feeling.
I really hope that the good work continues.

[David Watkins]

I agree totally,it is very good news indeed.Let's hope it continues.We can also do our bit by not offering temptation by flashing our apparent wealth.
David(25 days to go )

[Joranson]

Very good news indeed, thanks Steve for keeping us up to date with all the latest information. We are visiting Tobago for the first time in January, obviously the crime reports hadn't put us off or we wouldn't have booked.
Thanks again, Jo.

[Dona.D.]

Phew! Thanks for posting that Steve! very timely indeed in my case! I just booked our plane tickets for January and then started to read all these really scary reports (maybe I should have gone around things the other way around, some may say...) and started to think we had made a terrible mistake! But we are really looking forward to going to Tobago and hopefully will have a great holiday without too many problems.
Have people on this forum experienced any problems visiting any beaches/sites?
By the way, I am not mad, I know that Brighton it's not in Italy, I just happen to be Italian and live in Brighton!

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Dona

Welcome aboard!

Don't worry - you're going to have a wonderful time out there.