Illegal occupant at Grand Etang

Acting Commissioner of Police Don McKenzie has confirmed that the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) is aware of a white Spanish-speaking female individual taking up illegal residence in the Grand Etang reserve area and seemingly living inside a vehicle.

The chief cop was contacted Monday morning by THE NEW TODAY following reports from several persons about the activities of the woman who is believed to be working on the multi-million dollar Restoration project at police headquarters on Fort George.

According to Commissioner McKenzie, the police have approached the individual on several occasions to leave Grand Etang without success and decided to hand over the matter to the Ministry of Social Development to handle it.

A number of residents in nearby villages have been complaining about the scent from apparent faeces around the area known as 1910, which is designated as the highest point in Grand Etang and where the woman is spotted on a daily basis.

One female said that a number of local hunters have seen the woman sleeping in the vehicle at night and have expressed fears about her own personal safety in this isolated part of the country.

She expressed fears that Grenada could receive negative publicity in the international media if someone decided to attack the woman at night and cause harm to her.

The Grand Etang is home to a popular lake and is one of the areas often visited by tourists in Grenada.

Commissioner Mc Kenzie said the police did speak with the lady about her activities “quite recent too” but it appears that she is not willing to move out of Grand Etang.

When told that there is a law which can be used by RGPF against anybody who refuses to comply with an instruction from a police officer, the island’s chief cop said: “The order has to be legitimate, we just can’t give her an order arbitrarily.”

“I would say to you that this is a matter that I have since directed to give urgent attention rather than use the full weight of the police. We are looking to see if we could have a soft approach through Social Development. So Social Development has been contacted in reference to that and see how we can address the issue.”

“It’s being addressed – it’s not in the best interest of anyone so we have decided to pursue it through Social Development and see if we can bring a resolution to this situation but clearly we are not happy with her being up at Grand Etang.”

When asked about the timeframe in which there was contact between RGPF and Social Development on the issue, Commissioner Mc Kenzie said there have been conversations within the last two weeks.

“I mandated an officer to explore and I know that he has actually renewed effort into it,” he remarked.

Asked what feedback was received from Social Development in terms of the action being taken to remove the non-national from this specially reserved area, Mc Kenzie said: “I can’t tell you because that is an issue I will be having a conversation on this morning with the point Police Officer who is addressing the issue. It is (my) intention that I get an update from him as to where things (are) at. I have not had an update and I hope to get that before the end of the day.”

One prominent resident in St Andrew accused the police of moving too slow on the issue since RGPF was alerted several weeks ago about the presence of the woman in the area.

According to Commissioner McKenzie, the only thing that he can say at the moment is that he got an indication through the Police Officer that the Social Development ministry indicated that they will look into the situation of the female non-national taking up illegal residence in Grand Etang.

“I feel strong about that. We have engaged her. It is in train – we are pursuing it. We hope to have a resolution to that situation because we take the view that there is a risk involved,” he said.

THE NEW TODAY understands that the female has been operating in an area that is without any toilet and bathroom facilities.

Commissioner McKenzie declined to specifically comment on reports that the woman is working on a police compound in Fort George.

“What I would say apparently is that she is employed. I don’t like narrowing down,” he said.

There are reports that the non-national has been living on the island for a considerable period of time and is often in trouble with landlords over non-payment of rent.