Dear Editor,
On Saturday October 12, 2019, there were strings of multiple coloured flags across Craig Old Road on the East Bank of Demerara with ‘chic chic boards’ for gambling and loud music that started before 3 pm.
The loud sound was generated by two walls of speakers, each about eight feet in height and ten feet in width, facing each other on Craig Old Road. The sound waves emitted were loud enough to vibrate my roof, windows and flooring. That is noise to me; I endured more than twelve hours of it until 4 am on Sunday.
Unable to sleep Sunday morning at 0:46 am, I reported the noise nuisance to the Grove Police Station by telephone. The noise continued at Craig Old Road long after I called. I made a follow up call to the Grove Police Station at 1:35 am. My roof, windows and flooring were still vibrating from sound waves emitted from Craig Old Road.
Observing that no action was taken by Grove Police Station, I called the ‘A division operations office’ at 1:56 am on telephone number 227-1270 and was advised to call the Diamond Police Station on telephone 216 0252. I called Diamond Police Station at 1:57 am and reported the noise nuisance. At 2:23 am I made a follow up call to ‘A division operations office’ and the noise nuisance continued. In desperation I called the ‘A division operations office’ at 3:37 am and Diamond Police Station at 3:40 am. I was not satisfied with the responses received from the three police stations.
I felt hopeless but remembered a police officer once said to me, ‘Don’t give up, there are still good police officers around, you just have to find them’. My last hope was 911. I called 911 at 3:44 am and the call was transferred to the Grove Police Station; I spoke to the same police officer that received my first call at 0:46 am —over three hours ago; despair is a weak word to describe how I felt. The noise was turned off at 4 am.
Having highlighted my experience here, I wish to request that the Guyana Police Force improve its response time to noise nuisance at Craig on the East Bank of Demerara since this seems to be a developing trend. Thank you Police Officers, especially the 911 Officer.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
