PSV operators want owners, police assistance to keep safe

By Sheria Brathwaite Public sector vehicle (PSV) drivers and conductors want police to develop a crime prevention programme for them and have also called on vehicle owners to invest in dashboard cameras. Their plea on Wednesday came on the heels of an attempted robbery of one of their colleagues, Marlon Tempro, who was held at gunpoint while working on Monday. The PSV workers who operate from the River Terminal told Barbados TODAY that proper security measures are needed in the public transport system. “We need more security in the terminal. There is no security in the terminal around 6 o’clock, which is why you find a lot of men going outside the terminal to load. A lot of the PSV vans should urgently have dash cameras inside the vans. We need to be better equipped to deal with things that happen out here,” said driver Trevor Lloyd. “The Barbados Police Service needs to come together with the PSV operators and give us some tips on how to deal with security issues. The Government, the Attorney General need to do more. All we get is lip service. They need to do more to combat the crime in Barbados because it has gone to a level where something is happening every day. “This is why I don’t work late hours anymore and if this continues, the minibus men will done work at 5:30/ 6 o’clock because we are not going to put ourselves at risk when we have families . . . . So if they don’t get this thing right, we will shut down shop. It may affect the travelling public but we are not putting ourselves at risk to get robbed,” Lloyd added. His colleague Mackenson Pilgrim agreed that investment in dash cameras was important not only for security reasons but for evidence. He referred to the fact that the incident involving Tempro was captured on a dash cam, the video which went viral on social media. “If [Tempro] didn’t have that camera, nobody would have believe he – the owner, nobody; they would have thought he making sport. So seeing that video, it made me think that I have to get a camera too cause I’m frightened. If anything had to happen to me in my van nobody can’t say it’s this or that,” Pilgrim said. Tempro was on the Sam Lord’s Castle route when two men, one brandishing a gun, attempted to rob him around Well House, St Philip. The viral video of the incident showed him thwarting their efforts by speeding along the road and swerving the vehicle as the culprits held on for dear life and screamed “I want my muddah”. He subsequently stopped the van and all three of them disembarked and Tempro eventually sought refuge at a residence. Another operator, Sheridan Carrington, said he would not know what to do if he was held at gunpoint. “He is lucky to be living. People laughing at it but he is really lucky. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if it was me,” he added. The Barbados Police Service’s Communications and Public Affairs Officer Inspector Rodney Inniss said lawmen would welcome the opportunity to teach PSV workers about crime prevention. “We are here to collaborate with any individual or sector to help. If we help them, we’re helping ourselves and if we can eradicate robberies, thefts and burglaries, we have less work. We are in this together and once they reach out for the assistance, we will be quite willing to provide that,” he said. “There are certain things that we require them to do and that’s the advice we give to the general public. Each and every time assailants know that you are handling cash, they will plan for you. But you have to be observant and you have to put systems in place where you may have a cashless system. We encourage them to have that, we encourage the use of cameras; that helps. Some people argue it helps after the fact, but it still helps. Cameras act as a deterrent to some people as well,” Inniss added. Chairman of the Association of Public Transport Operators (APTO) Kenneth Best also agreed that dash cameras in PSVs were useful. “It’s a good idea and I encourage owners to install them if they can afford them because it records who enters and exits the vehicle. So I see it as a positive step in the right direction,” he said. sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb]]>