Police commissioners and military chiefs from 12 Caricom nations opened a three-day meeting in Georgetown yesterday geared at finding solutions to the grave security challenges facing the region.
The Eighth Extraordinary Joint Meeting of the Standing Committees of the Commissioners of Police and Military Chiefs, which opened at the Grand Coastal Inn, East Coast Demerara, is expected to offer ideas and recommendations to help inform a “strategy and action plan” to be formulated at next month’s Caricom Special Summit on Crime and Security in Trinidad and Tobago. The summit in Port of Spain will be hosted by Prime Minister Patrick Manning who has lead responsibility within Caricom for such issues. The special summit was one of the decisions taken at the recently concluded 19th Inter-Sessional Meeting of Caricom leaders held in the Bahamas.
At a short welcoming ceremony yesterday, Guyana’s Police Commissioner (ag) Henry Greene and Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Commodore Gary Best both addressed the urgency the situation requires, a point that was openly acknowledged by the participants.
Greene, who spoke first, said the meeting was not only to find ways of solving crime and security issues but also to bind them together.
He said the security forces need to find strategies and action plans to stem the rising tide of violent crimes, stressing that with the free movement of people across the region, there was a need for greater security.
“Terrorists, drug dealers and criminals cannot commit rampage from territory to territory unhindered,” he said.
The commissioner told his fellow participants that he expected to hear of their experiences and the solutions with which they can work. He said he knew there were many challenges but was praying for the success of the meeting.
Meanwhile Best noted that the security forces were under significant pressure from violent crime. Referring to Guyana’s most deadly crimes thus far – the Bartica and Luisgnan massacres – he said this country experienced its own 9/11 when those tragedies occurred.
He said there needs to be a regional approach and the maximization of resources when it comes to dealing with crime. Time and intelligence gathering, he explained were critical when it comes to crime fighting.
Best told the gathering that there needs to be a longer period of detention for those accused of serious crimes.
The media and the security forces’ public relations departments were essential in this fight, he said, and there was need for investment in these in order to be successful.
Several of the top regional security officials told the media that they believed the root cause of the crime situation in the region was the breakdown of the family unit. They all agreed that there was an urgent need for proper intelligence gathering and the sharing of information to tackle this growing problem effectively.
The countries represented at the meeting are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla and Bermuda.
