Latest update February 10th, 2025 7:48 AM
Police heartened by legislative strengthening
– more focus on training
Officers of the Guyana Police Force have expressed their appreciation for the strengthening of the legislative arm through the passage of a number of laws aimed at enhancing the fight against crime and traffic lawlessness.
Judging from the significant strides made by the force over the past year, the new legislation is being seen as a significant boost to the continued success of the law enforcement agencies.
Yesterday, 128 officers of the Guyana Police Force completed the final day of deliberations focusing on issues raised by President Bharrat Jagdeo in his address at the opening of the Conference on Wednesday, and those alluded to in subsequent addresses by the Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Clement Rohee and Commissioner of Police Henry Greene.
Several police Enquiries Offices are now equipped with computers.
A statement issued by the Police Public Relations office said that the conference was divided into groups, which discussed these issues as a priority.
These issues included the international security landscape, drug trafficking, intelligence-led crime fighting, the impact of the global financial crisis and succession planning.
The new legislative environment enables the law enforcement agencies to deal with issues such as plea bargaining, plea agreement, paper committals, paper discharges, audio visual evidence, the use of mobile phones by motorists, the placing of markings/drawings on mini-buses, the playing of music in public transportation vehicles and the fraudulent imitation of identification marks on motor vehicles or certificate of registration.
While some of the new legislations have not yet become law, it is already being seen as a deterrent to criminal activities.
And the Guyana Police Force is to draw up a comprehensive strategic plan to deal with the issue of training of members both locally and overseas, including appropriate foreign languages.
This is in keeping with the theme of the just concluded police officers conference, “Consolidating our gains through reform, training, partnership and effective policing”.
The plan will be geared towards improving the officers’ knowledge, skill and ability so as to be able to enhance service delivery.
Commissioner of Police Henry Greene updated officers on the Citizen Security Programme and the Security Sector Reform Programme through which the Force will benefit from improved forensic capability, the construction of a recruit training facility at Dora on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway, Traffic Management, Information Technology and Information Gathering and Intelligence Processing.
The officers said that they were motivated by the President’s commendation in recognition of the performance of the Guyana Police Force.
The President had stated, “I want to congratulate you the policemen of our country and the leaders of the Police Force…I want the officers to know that our country is grateful for the role you played in the past year in eliminating the pernicious gang that has terrorized innocent people across our land for a long time”.
The officers were also encouraged by the President’s recognition of the leadership role played by Commissioner of Police Henry Greene in rebuilding the shaky collaboration with the Joint Services, resulting in the security services being more effective in the fight against crime.
Focus, in great detail, was also placed on the Force’s response capability to incidents of crime, the continued training of response units, the improvement of the working environment at police stations with special emphasis on the lock-ups and confidentiality when dealing with reports particularly those relating to domestic violence, and enhancing police/community relations.
Additionally, discussions were held on issues arising out of interactive sessions previously held between Junior Officers and Officers of the Force Senior Management Team as well as those that surfaced during the historical one-day Inspectors and Sergeants Conference that was held on January 23, 2009
The implications for policing, with the opening of the Berbice River Bridge and the impending opening of the Guyana/Brazil Bridge; security assistance at the upcoming Summit of the Americas; and the hosting of the 24th Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP) in May were also explored.
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