Police commission $60M data centre

Aug 04, 2009 News

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The Guyana Police Force has been the beneficiary of US$12M so far under the Security Sector Reform Programme.
This was disclosed by Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, at the commissioning of a $60M data centre for the Guyana Police Force.
The Security Sector Reform Programme, for which a US$20M loan from the Inter-American Development Bank has been obtained, is aimed at modernising the Guyana Police Force to meet the challenges of the growing sophisticated criminal environment.
“This event represents another milestone in the efforts by the Government of Guyana to stand by its commitment to rapidly modernise the Guyana Police Force to meet current and future needs of our society,” Rohee said.
According to Rohee, the administration is aware that Law Enforcement Agencies and in particular, Police Forces around the world are confronted with challenges under circumstances that are constantly evolving.
This new environment‘, he said, requires enlightened approaches and strategies to face those difficulties.
With these factors in mind, the Government has recognised that the Guyana Police Force must be in a position to effectively maintain Law and Order in our country and has been investing heavily in the Force’s modernisation.
“As I understand it, this Data Centre will be a central repository of data critical to the operations of the Guyana Police Force. For example, statistical data about crime and traffic and other important matters would be transmitted and stored for analysis, dissemination and usage by the Managers of the Force and other critical users within the Organisation,” Rohee stated.
He added that the Data Centre will provide quick access to information that could be used to guide the operations and management of the Force.
Rohee said that what is critical is the usage of the data centre. If the data is not properly formulated and presented in an appropriate manner, it could become useless.
He added that it is therefore important that there is a clear understanding of the usage of this Data Centre and it must form part of the management tools of the Senior Managers of the Guyana Police Force.
“I have been advised that the equipment provided for this facility is adequate for the purpose intended. However, we have to bear in mind a few issues. The security features of the equipment installed here must be under constant review to prevent them from being compromised.
“Computer Technology is constantly changing, thus I expect that long term planning was the focus of those involved in the procurement process before the hardware and software were acquired and the need for constant training to be organised to ensure that properly trained staff is always available to keep the various systems operational.”
According to Rohee, not only will the Guyana Police Force benefit from this development. He said that his Ministry also stands to benefit significantly from the Data Centre from a management perspective.
“Its benefits to the Ministry of Home Affairs will be of tremendous importance from a policy formulation perspective since the Ministry through its research and other relevant units, will be able to obtain information from the Guyana Police Force on matters related to Policing at a faster rate, thus enabling the Ministry to arrive at policy decisions on a more timely basis,” the Minister said.
Additionally, with the establishment of the Data Centre, there will be linkages with appropriate agencies of the State.
The Minister pointed out that in addition to significant direct capital and current expenditure by the State on the Guyana Police Force over the years, other strategies have been developed to boost spending on this very important Institution.
One of the avenues that Guyana has been able to use is the collaboration with the IDB in the implementation of the Citizen Security Programme which has in its delivery three major components- the Institutional modernisation of the Ministry of Home Affairs; crime and violence prevention through community-based interventions; and the modernisation of the Guyana Police Force.
A few weeks ago the administration commissioned 12 remodeled Police Stations in Regions Four and Five.
The police data centre which is finally completed after months of preparatory work is situated in the building that houses the office of the Commissioner of Police.
Commissioner Greene told the small gathering at the commissioning ceremony that the centre is the bedrock of all the developments the force is making.
“A lot of what we do has to be captured, information has to be passed and that’s very sensitive work.
With the data centre coming into being, it means we can better co-ordinate the flow of that information, the speed of the flow of the information and we can better work, we can better assess.”
To facilitate this, the Police Force has already opened 18 Information Technology centres at various police stations throughout the country and with the establishment of the Data Center, it will enable these units to be interlinked for greater efficiency.
The Commissioner said that the centre is very critical to the organisation’s forward planning and he expressed thanks to the Inter-American Development Bank/Government of Guyana partnership and other individuals who made it possible.

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