Acting Police Commis-sioner Henry Greene has announced that police will move against touting at the Stabroek Market car park.

Greene yesterday said the practice of touting must stop, calling it a front for robbers and other criminal-minded persons. “A lot of the touts are people doing other things. Touting is only a front. Many of them are bandits. They are passing information. And we must stop the touting in this country and I charge them to ensure that we wipe out touting from Stabroek Market,” Greene said, during his address at the presentation of the police force’s annual Christmas policing plan.

Greene identified `A’ Division Commander Leroy Brummel and Traffic Chief Neil Semple as the point persons for the campaign and he said he had already instructed them to “clean up the market!” He also hoped that the police will get support from the City Constabulary to tackle the situation at the market.
But Greene noted that it is up to the police to prevent loitering and to deal with offenders in accordance with the law. “We can’t just have people liming around the place and then just rob people, trouble people, snatch people, do all sorts of things,” he said, stressing that the time has come for the situation to change.
He charged the Commander to make every effort along with the Traffic Chief to clean up that area of the city and make it a place that is safer for all to walk.

Touting has been a dominant feature at the bus parks around the market for years. Passengers have repeatedly complained about being tugged at and commanded to enter particular buses. Unsuspecting passengers sometimes find themselves surrounded by a number of men who pull at their bags and hands, while shouting at them to go into buses. Once a tout has filled a bus, he is paid by the driver or conductor.