Owner Dealers Association questions effectiveness of crime measures

The Own­er Deal­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (ODA) is ques­tion­ing the ef­fec­tive­ness of the Gov­ern­ment’s crime-fight­ing mea­sures, warn­ing that re­stric­tions on move­ment could place ad­di­tion­al fi­nan­cial pres­sure on busi­ness­es al­ready strug­gling to re­cov­er from the ef­fects of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic.

In a me­dia re­lease, ODA pres­i­dent Reval Chat­ter­goon said the as­so­ci­a­tion sup­port­ed ini­tia­tives to tack­le crime but ex­pressed con­cern about mea­sures that could af­fect busi­ness­es de­pen­dent on the free move­ment of peo­ple through­out the coun­try.

Chat­ter­goon said the prospect of re­newed re­stric­tions on move­ment brought back mem­o­ries of the pan­dem­ic, when lock­downs and cur­fews left busi­ness­es strug­gling with loan re­pay­ments, mort­gages, rent and re­duced in­come.