Police vow to keep the season relatively peaceful

Dec 29, 2012 News

Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell, and his Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud, have come in for high praise for the way the Police Force has been able to keep a lid on violent crimes throughout the festive season thus far.

Police Commissioner (ag) Leroy Brumell

For the first time in years the police can boast that their plan to protect the citizenry from criminal activity during the Christmas season worked almost to perfection.
Apart from a few robberies under arms and one murder, there is a lot that the police can claim credit for with the way the security arrangements worked.
“He (Brumell) has allowed his officers to map out their plans and strategies without micro managing things. We were able to put our plans into action, while he gave us the necessary support without much interference. He has done extremely well in tough circumstances,” the senior police officer told this newspaper.
Many would have thought that with the gunning down of Plaisance shopkeeper, Derrick ‘Backatoo’ Cox two days before Christmas, the police would have been hard pressed to control criminal activity.
However, not only have they managed to curtail copycat actions, but they were also able to apprehend the main suspects in the crime.
Also over the Christmas holidays, the police, thanks to quick response, were able to lay up at least two criminal suspects following robbery attempts on citizens in the city.
The only other major incident over the Christmas period was the disappearance of Guyana Energy Agency employee, Levoy Taljit.
There were a few major armed robberies so far and the police have assured that they will maintain their vigilance, with the assistance of public spirited persons to keep violent crimes down.
“We cannot prevent all the murders, like the one that happened in Berbice,” a senior police official told Kaieteur News.
“But we can certainly try to keep a lid on the violent crimes,” he added.
He credited the relative success of the police to proper planning-analysing crime trends and reports and properly deploying the necessary manpower to certain areas.

Crime Chief Seelall Persaud

“The Crime Chief and his team have done their fair share in the process too. The Crime Chief in his year end presentation had identified analyzing crime trends as one of the major keys to fighting criminal activity,” a top CID official said.
In terms of traffic, it would appear that the designated driver syndrome was actively invoked.
But while many are heaping praise on the police, others are crediting the situation to the vigilance of the citizens.
Then there is the argument that the police had effectively placed some of the troublemakers behind bars for the season.
Whichever way it is looked at, it all made for a relatively peaceful festive season so far.