Armed police manning checkpoints in Christmas road-safety campaign

If you’re a motorist who has encountered an RCIPS Winter Guardian roadblock in recent weeks, chances are you have been greeted with the silent but watchful gaze of a police officer armed with an assault rifle.

During this festive season of peace, joy and goodwill towards all, the heavily armed officers are a ‘necessary evil’ as police attempt to stamp out a recent and sustained spike in robberies.

“One can appreciate that this year we are prioritising our attention to the armed robberies, so that is why you are seeing the escalation of heavily armed police at vehicle checkpoints,” RCIPS Chief Inspector Brad Ebanks said at a press conference on Monday, 19 Dec.

The high visibility road-safety operation began on Thursday, 1 Dec., and will run through to the new year.

In previous years, the roadblocks would typically target motorists suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, using their mobile phones while driving, and/or having windows tinted darker than the legal limit.

However, officers are now rethinking their strategies following a spike in robberies which has pushed the total number of such incidents to 47 for the year so far, making it the most active year for robberies in a decade.

As of Tuesday, 20 Dec., the latest Winter Guardian infraction numbers had not been not released by police, so it is not clear whether any suspected robbers were detected at any of the checkpoints.

Nonetheless, police have stressed that a part of the operation’s purpose is to deter would-be criminals by the mere presence of officers on the road.

“A challenge that we’re having are the numbers [of robbers],” explained Ebanks. “It’s not three or four persons that we are looking at, there are about 14 persons, and any three or four of them could get together and commit a robbery.”

According to police, the robbers are loosely operating in three main groups, and are thought to be local youth in their mid- to late-20s.

Oftentimes, their criminal escapades see them taking high risks for minuscule rewards.

“Most of these offences are only getting $200 to $300,” RCIPS Detective Superintendent Peter Lansdown said. “It’s tiny amounts of money… they are committing robberies where they are going to get a minimum of seven years in prison and they are getting a hundred bucks each; it’s absurd.”

Police say they are confident about the identity of the suspects, and while they continue to build a case against each of them, they will have armed officers stationed at each vehicle checkpoint.