“Upper-Berbice residents bemoan lack of attention from police

-say interest is only placed on raiding marijuana farms

By Solomon McGarrell

Villages located in the Upper-Berbice district, Region 10, are constantly raided by the Region Six Division of Police during drug eradication exercises and millions of dollars in marijuana would be destroyed but residents claim that the same Division has been allegedly failing to attend to more serious crimes within the district.

Most recently, frustrated villagers voiced their concerns about the Division’s response to reports of a family being attacked by armed men. Last Saturday in the village of Kimbia, Ryon Gladstone and his family were beaten at the hands of masked bandits armed with cutlasses. It was reported that when ranks of Region Six were contacted and made aware of the incident, they allegedly uttered that the village is not within their jurisdiction.
“When it comes to Region Six coming and raid them weed farm and thieving out everything from them people farm, lawn mower and whatever they find on the farm and fetching it and ain’t lodging it at the station, they does reach to do it but when anything else happen, they don’t reach. The other day, a lady died mysteriously, when the family reported it to Region Six police, they said they can’t come, the Kwakwani police had to come for the body,” a disgruntled resident alleged.

Meanwhile, however, the fiancée of Gladstone posited that when she contacted the ranks the night of the incident, she was told that they would visit the area the following day due to the hour the crime was being committed. The confused and frustrated young woman said had it been a weed farm ‘tip-off’, they would have been present; nothing would have hindered them.

Villagers are calling on the Commander of the Region Six Division, to closely monitor the operations of his ranks in the Berbice River and to not only visit to make raids but rather, to ensure safety and peace is being kept in the villages