PPP heaps praises on Crime Chief Blanhum

May 24, 2016 News

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Crime Chief, Wendell Blanhum, seems to have won over the heart of the opposition People’s Progressive

Party for his leadership of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Guyana Police Force.

Yesterday, the party came full circle and heaped praise on Blanhum for the success of the CID in solving high profile crimes, some of them dating back eight years ago.
The PPP’s position comes a day after the police cracked the case of the missing Babita Sarjou, whose remains were dug up from a shallow grave aback of a Campbellville house, six years after she disappeared.
This is in addition to several other high profile cases for which a number of persons were swiftly placed before the courts.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, at Freedom House, PPP General Secretary, Clement Rohee, commended Blanhum, who is a Senior Superintendent of Police, and called for his immediate promotion to the rank of Assistant Commissioner.
“Blanhum and his team at CID are to be commended. He should be considered for promotion immediately from Senior Superintendent to Assistant Commissioner of Police. The Crime Chief must at all times be of the rank of an Assistant Commissioner,” Rohee stated.
It would seem, however, that not everyone in the party is on the same page.
When contacted yesterday, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo stated that he was not aware of the statement that was read at the press conference and so he could not pronounce it.
“I don’t know why they would commend this officer…I will have to find out why, but there are other officers

who have done commendable work and their successes are not highlighted,” Jagdeo told this newspaper in an invited comment.
When asked to explain why during the PPP’s 20-plus years in office there were hardly any major breakthrough in high-profile criminal cases, Jagdeo again stated that he could not comment on that issue at the moment.
However, he did indicate that there were breakthroughs in cases during the PPP’s term in office.
In recent times, the party has been critical of the police force and its political head, the Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, when crime threatened to get out of control.
The PPP General Secretary himself has been openly critical of Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud, who served as Crime Chief during the initial period of Babita Sarjou’s disappearance.
Yesterday, Rohee repeated his criticism of Persaud, blaming him for the previous failure of the police to solve crimes.
“Blanhum’s success puts paid to the track record of the former Crime Chief on crime solving,” Rohee stated, in what appears to be a direct reference to Commissioner Persaud.
He warned that Blanhum must at all times refuse instructions and directives of a non-professional and political nature.
Political interference however was a criticism leveled against Rohee when he was Minister of Home Affairs, up to a little over a year ago.
At yesterday’s press conference, Rohee credited the success of the CID to the increased interaction with the public.
Again pointing fingers at the Commissioner, Rohee said that the “Guyana Police Force now appears to be

listening finally to civilians and not believing that (its members) know it all.”
“There was a time when everything civilian was ignored and disregarded to the detriment of successful investigation and prosecution. Making effective use of human intelligence and civilian common sense is the way to go,” Rohee noted.
The implicit references to the former Crime Chief, now Commissioner, is in direct contrast to sentiments expressed by Rohee just before Persaud took over the helm of the Guyana Police Force.
This newspaper recalled a function just before Persaud’s predecessor, Leroy Brumell, demitted office, and which was attended by several senior stakeholders, including the Director of Public Prosecution and the Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority.
At that function, Rohee expressed confidence in Persaud, when he told the gathering that he was satisfied that Seelall Persaud had the knowledge and experience to carry out the functions of Commissioner of Police and to take the organization forward in a positive way.
Some senior police officers, who came to the Commissioner’s defence, following Rohee’s pronouncements yesterday, said that that is exactly what Persaud is doing.
They lashed out at Rohee and the previous administration for not taking training of police investigators seriously, which they say is what is leading to the success that the force is presently enjoying.
Kaieteur News understands that the present government upon assuming office last year accepted a two-year training programme for detectives, under the Canada-based Justice Education Society, following discussions with the administration of the Force.
This has provided extensive training, which is incorporated with a Forensic Video Analysis Unit, the first of its kind in the Caribbean.
In addition, the police were provided with an investigative software to track the status of investigations; something that is very useful to the CID.
“Blanhum happens to be the Crime Chief when all these things are happening. He is also being guided by the same Commissioner that Rohee is criticizing,” a senior police official told Kaieteur News last evening.
Yesterday, the PPP General Secretary cautioned, though, that at all times police investigators must uphold the ethics and rules of good professional policing.

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