A Warwick store owner is outraged at the treatment Police have been giving him at his Ord Road location.

The owner of Lines Food and Liquor Mart, Mr. Richard Powell, told The Royal Gazette that "Police response is so slow'' to his store that once he reports a crime it only gets acted on after his perseverance.

And he said he has sent the Police a video tape showing a man shoplifting yet the Police have not done anything about it.

Police Community and Media relations spokesman P.c. Gary Venning told The Royal Gazette that Police officers investigated a shoplifting incident at Lines Food and Liquor and a suspect was arrested.

He said the video tape provided by Mr. Powell was of poor quality and there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the suspect was guilty.

P.c. Venning said the man was released because of this and Mr. Powell was informed.

Mr. Powell said he has not heard from the Police despite the fact that he has received verbal threats against himself, his family, his building and his business.

He said he even wrote to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Michael Mylod, on June 8 and received a reply saying "a further response will be forthcoming'' on June 23, 15 days later.

Nothing else has been heard from him since said Mr. Powell.

He said his customers have also been threatened but none of his neighbours will file complaints because they fear repercussions from the people who loiter outside his store.

Mr. Powell said he felt that if he was located in Hamilton he would not have any problems at all because "Hamilton stores were favoured by Police''.

P.c. Venning said Police have responded to calls over the years at Lines Food and Liquor and have made arrests on numerous occasions.

He added that the Parish Constable for Warwick was in regular contact with Mr.

Powell and Police patrol the area regularly.

Mr. Powell described one event that happened at his store last week.

He said he called the Police at 4 p.m. on Monday to report a theft.

A uniformed officer -- who attended half an hour later -- said it was a job for the Criminal Investigations Department.

At 9 a.m. the next day a Scenes of Crime officer arrived and took pictures.

Mr. Powell said he did not hear anything after that until Friday when he called the Police and threatened to go to the Press.

Shortly after his call, he said, he got a phone call from CID saying the officers would be on duty at 3 p.m. and had not been able to help sooner because they had been waiting for the paperwork.

Mr. Powell said he wanted to know why the information had made it to the Scenes of Crime Department the morning after the crime had taken place and not CID.

A complaint Mr. Powell said he made to Police on July 21 has still not been dealt with either.

Mr. Powell said he called Police after an angry customer had pushed a case of bottled beer off a counter onto the floor.

He said a uniformed officer arrived almost two hours later and took a statement from him and a member of his staff. The officer said he was going to turn the case over to someone else.

Mr. Powell said he has not heard anything since despite the fact that he gave the officer the customer's license plate number.

He said Police called him back to tell him the bike was unlicensed.

Mr. Powell exclaimed: "He is riding an unlicensed bike and the Police know this yet last Thursday I saw him on the same bike!'' P.c. Venning said Police appreciate the concerns of Mr. Powell and hope that through continued vigilance and co-operation between them "these menacing problems can be alleviated''.

MR. RICHARD POWELL -- The owner of Lines Food and Liquor Mart.