Monrovia – Constant and protracted power outages in parts of Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, is impeding the work of the Liberia National Police, hence, the increase in crime rate, especially armed robber, the Inspector General of Police has disclosed.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
Over the weekend, the police cataloged six cases of crimes, including armed robbery, thefts, and burglary in Monrovia and its environs.
The latest was on Sunday when a lady in her early 50s was robbed by some unknown men on the Gabriel Tucker Bridge (Vai Town Bridge).
Cecelia Toe, along with her granddaughter, was awaiting a mechanic to help them repair their vehicle that had broken down on the bridge.
At the beginning of the bridge is the Slipway Police Depot, but no officer was there and they had not worked there for fully at night for four days prior to the incident due to lack of electricity.
According to Inspector General Patrick Sudue, the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) has failed to provide lights at some areas where they consider strategic checkpoints, and would, therefore, not deploy his officers there.
“Look at the By-Pass, we can’t risk our officers to be in the dark; what if an arrest is done and the suspect has an arm, it will be a risk to us and our officers.”
“So we decided to deploy officers where we have electricity, we can’t endanger our officer lives; they are humans, too and have respective families,” he said.
Police patrol at night, according to Sudue, has not been operative in some areas due to the lack of electricity.
He said the absence of electricity has exposed the country and its citizen to danger –something he said must be tackled so as to allow officers effectively perform their duties.
Emmanuel Wisner, a resident of the By-Pass community told FPA that his provision shop has been burglarized twice and no one has so far been arrested by the LNP.
There’s no longer a police checkpoint at night on the By-Pass.
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