Some may not envision the work of the Solid Waste Management (SWMC) as a dangerous profession especially as it relates to ensuring that business establishments and residents comply with the litter and waste disposal laws. But SWMC Operations Supervisor Mr. Wilmon McCall has made it known that there have been many instances where SWMC workers, including himself, have been at risk and where their lives have been threatened by individuals. Mr. McCall is calling on the police force to provide some level of security to them in some cases especially when they encounter individuals who threaten them whenever they attempt to ticket them for waste disposal infractions.
Most recently, Mr. McCall recounted an incident where a prominent contractor and businessman was confronted for piling construction waste and garbage on his property; as much as five trucks of garbage on a construction site for a housing development that is being built. The businessman did not take too lightly to Mr. McCall and other SWMC officials coming on his property to do a routine inspection and to serve him with the ticket for breaking the law, the SWMC official explained. In response, the man began threatening Mr. McCall and his workers, using profanity.
Mr. McCall explained that when they sought to comply with the man’s request to leave his property, he was still being aggressive and insolent and tried blocking them on the property, probably to start a confrontation. “He asked us to leave the property. We were moving out of the property when he put somebody to block us when we were leaving…eventually we got out without any incident,” Mr. McCall said.
What made matters worse is that when Mr. McCall reported the incident to the police and sought their cooperation to assist in having the businessman charged for accumulating the waste on his property, he did not get their cooperation. “The police officer who answered me (on the phone), a female—she indicated to me ‘is it every time that you want to give a ticket you call the police?’” McCall said. He explained that when he went to the police station, the commanding officer was not in and though he left a message, he is yet to receive a call.
Previously, Mr. McCall said there were two particular police officers—Officer Lauston Percival and Officer Maccou who ably and promptly assisted the SWMC when it encountered uncooperative individuals who were to be ticketed. However, both police officers have since been re-assigned. “From since these fellows were assigned to a different posts, we are left naked. If I had gotten to the commanding officer, I would want him to assign someone who he knows I could call at a moment’s notice,” Mr. McCall explained.
Mr. McCall is beseeching the police high command to help the SWMC in these matters as these incidents are becoming too frequent and is dangerous for the workers. “It’s a regular occurrence,” he said. “We have a right to enter people’s property. What the law says to us, when you are leaving someone’s property, you must leave it as secure as you met it. You do have the right to inspect even in the absence (of the owner),” Mr. McCall said.