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  • 19 hours ago

In the wake of a brazen robbery onboard a maxi taxi, The Route 2 Maxi Taxi Drivers' Association spoke out on TV6's Morning Edition about the incident, possible security measures and more.

Dominic Ramroop has the details.



Transcript
00:00After the daring daylight robbery of a driver and multiple commuters on a maxi-taxi on the
00:08bus route in Aruka on Wednesday afternoon, President of the Route 2 Maxi Taxi Drivers
00:12Association, Brenton Knight, says that this is not a new problem and it shows a decline in society
00:18where youths are going down the wrong path. Knight and the association secretary, Vanell Carter,
00:24are also adamant that there is no excuse for these individuals to engage in these
00:28nefarious activities.
00:29This is nothing new. What it just shows is a continued decline in our society in terms
00:38of the youths and them going down a certain path that is not really becoming of a citizen
00:47who really wants to contribute in the right manner to society. And you have a lot of options.
00:53There are options for you and this is not the option. You are young, you are able-bodied person.
00:58There are a lot of people with physical challenges out there that they choose not to go that
01:02route. They get up early in the morning and they look for honest day work.
01:06In all the conversation we keep hearing, it's centering around that time. You know, these
01:09guys will be so-so-so cornered by this and doing this and that. So the group that they're
01:14associated with and the area where we hear that they are, you know, are wrong, it's clear
01:21to see why they would go in this direction. But it's not an excuse to remain in that direction.
01:27The Route 2 Maxi Taxi Drivers Association met with the TTPS's transit unit on Thursday,
01:32a meeting that had already been set for Wednesday's incident to speak about possible security measures
01:37in order to protect maxi taxi drivers and commuters. In the meantime, the association is
01:43calling on their members to remain vigilant.
01:45We have made recommendations over the years where we would like to see some plain clone
01:51officers riding the maxi taxi and at strategic points announce that they are officers and
01:58they are going to do a stop and search. We're looking to add in an other feature. I don't
02:02want to speak about that feature because at the end of the day, we don't want people to
02:07be the undesirables aware of what we're looking at and what we're looking to put in place.
02:13So we have some ideas and some of these ideas is not new ideas, some of them is old ideas and
02:21we're just hoping that we will be able to streamline it.
02:24Both Mr. Knight and Mr. Carter strongly refuted the claims and suggestions on social media that
02:29the driver was involved in the robbery, citing their personal knowledge of the individual and
02:33his demeanor. The association is now calling on the justice system to make sure perpetrators
02:38feel the full brunt of the consequences of their actions.
02:41We need to send a strong message to these individuals. It's okay, you could make a five
02:46seconds decision to do whatever you do, but the long-term consequences must be so severe
02:52that it must linger with you for years because anybody can make a decision within five seconds.
02:57That is okay, but the real essence of that decision is the consequences of that decision
03:01and the justice system needs to send a strong message to the criminal elements that we're
03:07not going to tolerate this kind of behavior.
03:09Dominic Ramroop, TV6 News.
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