The Tribune

CENTREVILLE Urban Renewal Project officials took to the streets in full force Tuesday, holding discussions with businesspersons and shoppers while passing out flyers to drivers as part of their effort to reduce crime in the area.

The campaign is also part of the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s ‘Project Safe Bahamas’ programme.

Urban Renewal Project officers were accompanied by members of their Community Volunteer Group — a 50 member group of residents who want to lend a hand.

The volunteers also accompany police officers on their daily walk-a-bouts and visits with the elderly in the community.

Inspector Ricardo Richardson, officer-in-charge of the Centreville Urban Renewal Project Office’s Police Division, said the operation was part of the centre’s effort to be proactive in and attempt to reduce the incidence of auto theft, car break-ins, armed robberies and shop break-ins.

Insp Richardson said the campaign is in line with Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade’s mandate of prevention.

“The Centreville area is a high-volume, highly trafficked area in terms of the number of businesses that operate in the area and the large numbers of pedestrian, vehicular and other kinds of traffic that access those businesses, shops and stores on a daily basis, and so we figured this was a great opportunity for us to be proactive in our operations with regard to prevention,” he said.

“This is also a time of year when many parents and/or guardians are finalising most of their back-to-school shopping and when businesses are having, or are wrapping up their back-to-school promotions.

“This gave us an excellent opportunity to speak with those shoppers to discuss ways to protect their automobiles, valuables and purchases — lessons they can practice throughout the year and so this was a great opportunity to do some policing from the prevention side of it.”