Twenty-one Police and CANU ranks graduate from DEA training

Apr 05, 2014 News

By Latoya Giles
Twenty-one ranks from both the Guyana Police Force and the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit graduated yesterday as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) airport interdiction course came to an end.
A ceremony was held at the Guyana Police Force Training Centre, on Young and Camp Streets.
The course curriculum included sharing best practices for the establishment of an interdiction unit, review of computer data analysis methodologies, interviewing techniques, and the conduct of seizure operations.

From Right DEA trainer G.W Woossner, US Ambassador D. Brent Hardt, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, Commissioner of Police (ag) Seelall Persaud along with the graduating ranks.

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, U.S. Ambassador D. Brent Hardt, Police Commissioner (ag) Seelall Persaud and several other senior ranks of the force were there for the graduation ceremony.
The programme was made possible through funding by the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative launched by President Barrack Obama at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009.
Working together, the United States, Guyana and other nations of the Caribbean are combating the drug trade and other transnational crimes that threaten regional security.
Ambassador Hardt said that the course represents another step towards strengthening Guyana’s border security. He said that the training also reflects a mutual commitment under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative to work together to combat transnational crime.
According to Hardt even four years after the innovative partnership the United States remains committed to working with Guyana and all other regional partners to help deepen and expand their efforts.
“By sharing best practices on structure and procedures of airport interdiction units performing computer data analysis, interviewing and conducting seizure operations we boost law enforcement capacity” Hardt noted.
The ambassador said, that the training the ranks received would enhance the security relations and ensure that criminals do not use the airports for illegitimate purposes.
Ambassador Hardt noted that illicit trafficking destabilizes economic progress and threatens public safety. He said that such criminal activities also make it more likely that vulnerable populations may be lured into organized criminal networks.
He added that the CBSI has also contributed a US$50,000 to support the international organization of migration project with the Guyana Registrar’s office. The Ambassador explained that the money would help create a searchable database of birth certificates.
These efforts would make it harder for criminals to evade law enforcement especially when crossing borders through the use of false identities, the ambassador noted.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said that the course will help with the effectiveness in detecting persons who are intending to conduct illegal activities.
Rohee said that the programme is a testimony to the necessity of ongoing training.
He said that ongoing training is needed to tackle organize crime. According to Rohee training courses like this makes it more important for ranks to “step up their game” when dealing with criminals.
Only recently the United States Government donated to the Guyana Coast Guard three spanking new 500 horsepower boats. The boats which were built in the US by Metal Shark Aluminium Boats at a total cost of US$l.7M were handed over to President Donald Ramotar by US Ambassador D. Brent Hardt.
President Ramotar had said that he was confident that the boats will make a valuable contribution to the work of the security forces in Guyana and while Guyana is still a poor country with many needs to be fulfilled, especially the need to ensure that the nation is secured and its people are protected.