Officers receiving segway training

There will be an increase in police officers being trained to use the segways, currently utilised by the Force to patrol the Richard Haynes Boardwalk in Hastings, Christ Church.

Acting Commissioner of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF), Tyrone Griffith, revealed this plan while speaking to The Barbados Advocate on the side-lines of a presentation yesterday at the RBPF headquarters. There, the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Authority (BHTA) and the Tourism Development Corporation (TDC) donated four segways and replacement batteries for previous units to the Force.

The total value of the equipment presented is “about BDS $80 000”.

“There are officers who are trained already, but there are more officers who are going to be trained and brought on board,” pointed out Griffith.

He added that that the day’s presentation will go a long way in assisting police officers in improving their presence on the Boardwalk.

“It is a nice gesture on the part of the BHTA, to assist us in our efforts by providing four segways, along with some batteries, to make the existing segways functional. It would go a long way in ensuring that we have some patrols on the Board Walk.

“As you know, we have had a lot of incidents on the Board Walk, so we need to ensure that that area is properly patrolled, and those units would definitely be a tremendous assistance in ensuring that we keep that area safe.”

Also speaking to the press, Chief Executive Officer of the BHTA, Sue Springer, said this is the second occasion that both agencies have made a donation to the Royal Barbados Police Force. She further stated that they “work with the police to assist them with equipment, so they can do their monitoring in a more efficient manner.

“Not only for tourists, also for locals, and as I said, the Boardwalk on the South Coast is very much utilised by local people, from five in the morning until 10 at night,” Springer noted. (MG)