The Owner Dealers Association says while 24-hour type businesses may be in jeopardy due to increased crime, it will not give up without a fight.
As gas station owner dealers, its presence within the community is not temporary.
Members of the Owner Dealers Association place significant financial, out-of-pocket investment in building their gas station and owning the property on which their gas station is built.
They are permanent fixtures within the communities serve and we are impacted by both positive and negative events that occur within these communities.
Over the last week, the ODA engaged in talks with the President of the Tunapuna Police Station Community Council, Neil Boodoosingh regarding the EagleEye Project and how this initiative can help deter crime within communities that are served by ODA members.
A stepping stone in achieving one of the ultimate goals at this time: to make communities we serve safer; is to increase TTPS surveillance using cameras provided and maintained by the Citizen Surveillance Network; a key partner in the TTPS EagleEye Project.
The ODA has subsequently engaged the services of Citizen Surveillance Network to allow its members to subscribe to the service at monthly fee of just under two hundred dollars.
This subscription will facilitate the installation of strategically placed cameras on or around the premises which will be monitored by the TTPS while remain accessible to the ODA member.
As crime continues to increase with very little sign of reduction in the near future, it is imperative for retail fuel gas station owner dealers and the wider community to make themselves harder targets.
By allowing the TTPS outreach to grow through the adoption of the EagleEye Project, real time monitoring and gathering of information can occur first hand and seamlessly while remaining accessible by stakeholders to this initiative.
With the support received from our ODA membership and peaked interest from groups within the retail fuel industry, the ODA believes that there is strength in numbers and that the safety and security of the nation and its citizens at this time is paramount.
It is with this vein that the ODA is opening its membership to fuel retailers who are not owner dealers to join as affiliate members and subscribe to this initiative.
The ODA continues its research into vendors who can provide security services to assist our members in making themselves harder targets and help their communities feel safer.