A fresh air of relief blew across the press table on Wednesday, as spokesmen for the Royal Anguilla Police Force reported that there were no new incidents of crime on the island.

The first part of the press briefing was taken up with the police giving the Governor’s Staff Officer, Joe Legg, an opportunity to report on sets of emergency lights and sirens provided for many of the police vehicles.

Mr. Legg said he was very pleased, on behalf of Governor Andrew George, that it was possible to help the police in funding the lights and sirens which were upgrades of the previous systems installed on a few of the vehicles.

“It is very important that members of the public are aware when one of the police cars is actually responding to an emergency,” Mr. Legg stated. “Having these lights and sirens on the vehicles will make the roads safer for members of the public. They will be able to hear the vehicles approaching and they will also have the vision signals from the flashing lights which will hopefully prevent accidents and also allow the police to respond in a timely manner when there are reported incidents.”

He said the Governor was particularly pleased to be able to use some of his delegated funds from the Overseas Territories Programme Fund which is the new name for the Good Government Fund. “We look forward to continuing cooperating with the police as with other emergency services on the island for the good of the public in Anguilla,” he added.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Illidge Richardson, thanked the British Government and the Anguilla Government for their assistance in purchasing the equipment. He said the equipment would be affixed to all of the vehicles when the technician became available.

In other matters, Mr. Richardson spoke about the incident early last week Thursday when a police patrol intercepted a young man from Blowing Point acting suspiciously in the Little Harbour area. He said the person, found in the area after 3 a.m., ran away leaving his car. Various ranks of the Force including the Commissioner were involved in the pursuit that followed and led to the capture of the escapee at his residence at Blowing Point.

Following investigations, it was discovered that the young man was driving a vehicle throughout Anguilla with a forged drivers licence from Guyana. He was charged with driving without a licence and without insurance, uttering a forged document and burglary.

He was taken before the Magistrate’s Court on Monday, May 31, where was remanded in custody until May 29.

Richardson disclosed that a number of exhibits were taken from the car and that Constable Judith Ruan had left the island on Monday to take them to the forensic laboratory in Jamaica to determine whether any one of the persons arrested by the police was involved in the recent burglaries and violent attacks.

Superintendent Rudolph Proctor said: “We are not in a position to place a link between this young man and any of the previous armed robberies, burglaries and assaults we have had. The preventive and operational measures that we have put in place to catch the person or persons responsible for these crimes were successful in apprehending him in an area where we did not expect to meet him.”

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