Bus Passengers And Drivers Get Trained On
Dealing With Assaults
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Bus Passengers
And Drivers Get Trained On Dealing With
Assaults
In an effort to combat the rising crime
against public transport buses, especially
in the Alajuela and Heredia routes,
officials of the Fuerza Pública began
yesterday a campaign to train passengers and
drivers. The first session began yesterday
at 8am on the Tuasa bus in front of Mall
Internacional de Alajuela.
Armed with leaflets and an arsenal of
information, the officials told passengers
how to act and react in the event of an
assault.
The recommendation is to stay calm, follow
the directions of the assailants and drop to
the floor in the case of gunfire. The
officers told the passengers to take note of
the assailants, what they were wearing, hair
colour, height, etc, as well as any vehicle
used in the getaway.
The next step in the program is to train the
250 drivers of the Tuasa and La 400, the two
bus services which have been the target of
assailants in the past months.
Janina del Vecchio, the ministra de
Seguridad, it is also up to the owners of
the bus service to ensure the safety of the
passengers and their drivers, suggesting
that the owners contract security for their
units or use electronic payment instead of
cash that is in use now.
Seguridad officials say they estimate a
group of some 20 delinquents, aged between
16 and 24, are responsible for most of the
attacks on the public buses.
In addition to the Alajuela and Heredia
buses, passegners on the San José and
Cartago routes have also been victims of
assaults.
Juan José Andrade, regional chief of the
Fuerza Pública in Alajuela said that
although they have identified the group,
they individuals have managed avoid capture.
Andrade added that in some cases they have
detained a number of individuals, but the
victims have failed to recognize the
attackers.
Police officials on buses will be a regular
thing as they board different buses, on
different routes, at different times, to
foil assailants.
The concern of officials is that passengers
are beginning to arm themselves. Raul
Rivera, regional chief of the Fuerza Pública
in Heredia said that his officers
confiscated two guns and two toy gunds on
the Heredia route last week.
Authorities say that the bus stops with the
most problems so far have been the Terramall
(Cartago- San José); Mall Paseo de las
Flores (San José - Heredia), and Cariari,
Castella, INA and Hospital México (San
José-Alajuela).
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