METRO Police are undertaking ongoing operations to remove vagrants from the streets in Glenwood.
Local resident and business owner, Tony Ball confirmed that he had recieved a number of complaints regarding the vagrants who slept on the pavements in and around Heln Joseph and Bulwer Roads. Ball said he felt Metro Police should act on the issue, adding that the area experienced a lot of crime which he believed many of the beggars were involved in.
“What I get told and read is that vagrants do not want to take advantage of shelters where they can get a warm meal and a bed, they feel it is more profitable to stay on the streets. The habitual ones should be taken to a place of safety or a reformatory, if these still exist,” he said.
Metro Police has responded to requests by tasking its enforcement team to undertake an operation every day, around 7am, where vagrants are 'moved on' and rubbish is removed from the area.
In email correspondence, Morgan Subramoney from Metro Police, said the mayoral initiative, joined by the business community recently, was a sidewalk sleepover, to share the experience of going each night without a warm meal and the comfort of home. He said he hoped that some form of initiative would mushroom out of that exercise.
“Despite our every effort in removing the vagrants, there is no structured way of dealing with this as it is a social problem,” he said.
Ward councillor, Nicole Graham, said she was pleased with the work done by Metro Police and had noticed an improvement in the area.
“A clean Davenport is vital for tourism, business and happy residents,” she said.
