East Coast CPGs get mixed ratings ahead of 38th anniversary celebration

Feb 25, 2014 News

As Guyana gets ready to celebrate 38 years of Community Policing, the operations of those groups along the East Coast of Demerara are receiving mix grades from the established law enforcement body, the Police Force as well as some members of the public.
Community Policing Groups from Bel Air to Mahaica, on the East Coast of Demerara, fall under the Police C Division, and while most of them are being commended for their sterling contributions to law enforcement, other groups are being accused of being a law on to themselves.
Community Policing in Guyana commenced in 1976, with the objective of harnessing the energies of willing members of communities to support of the work of the police in maintaining law and order.

Members of the CPGs during a recent anniversary parade.

And while this is the case in most instances, there are a few exceptions, with some misguided groups in certain areas usurping the role of the police, so much so that they have been termed vigilante groups.
This latter situation has led the Home Affairs Minister to declare that Government does not encourage the formation of vigilante groups to tackle rising criminal activities.
“Vigilante groups has a certain connotation and I think we need to stay away from that because of the perception and connotation of what is meant by a vigilante group,” Rohee said at a press conference at the People’s Progressive Party Headquarters late last month.
The Minister was referring directly to a recent media report that stated that vigilante groups were being formed in Berbice in response to a spate of robberies that are occurring in that county.
He told reporters that for several years, the Government has been placing much emphasis on the establishment of Community Policing Groups (CPG) and Neighbourhood Police, to assist the regular police force in maintaining law and order.
Rohee said that most people have accepted these two concepts as best suited for Guyana as a whole.
“Nobody has questioned the need to establish Community Policing Groups or Neighbourhood Police because I think we have managed to successfully gain buy-in to these two concepts,” Rohee said.
“Vigilante groups are something a little different,” he added.
But according to a source at Mahaica, one particular group at Mosquito Hall appears to have taken their role outside of their mandate.
Kaieteur News was informed that the group has implemented an unofficial curfew in the village, “harassing law abiding citizens who enter the community,” especially at nights.
The source said that often times the group’s actions receive the support of senior officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“Imagine they beat up a man and when the man went to report the matter to the police, a senior official from the Ministry call and instructed the police not to write any statement,” the source told this newspaper.
But the reports are not always negative about the operations of CPGs at Mahaica.
Earlier this month some members of a Mahaica CPG, in the company of a Police Constable came in for high praises from the Minister of Home Affairs after they apprehended a murder suspect who had been on the run for 10 years.
And in the Vigilance and Sparendaam, ECD districts, which are well known crime hotspots, police have commended the work of the groups there, noting that they have been of significant help to them.
“They have their own vehicles, their own guns, which are given to them by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Sometimes we have ranks to send with them, sometimes we don’t, but they generally have been very cooperative and professional,” a senior police official in the Division told Kaieteur News.
This week the Ministry will kick start the CPG anniversary celebrations with a press conference tomorrow, which will be hosted by the Minister of Home Affairs.
Presently CPG membership throughout the country stands at 4,244 with 268 groups.