Several aspects of the UK-funded Security Sector Reform Action Plan (SSRAP) have been implemented with training in intelligence gathering and upgrading of the much-maligned 911 emergency call system among them.
According to a Govern-ment Information Agency (GINA) press release Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene said he is satisfied with the speedy implementation process, particularly the improvement with the 911 system. “We are getting ahead. We have also had special phones installed which can alert our ranks when the 911 phones are ringing…We have recently requested that some 911 phones that do not have separate lines at some stations be given separate lines,” he said.
As regard training, Greene said there have been several interventions in this area especially in relation to improving intelligence gathering. He said it was expected that the anti-crime and special firearms unit will be significantly upgraded and they are expected to create a number of teams and to implement recommendations that have been submitted. Greene said members of the intelligence team from the UK have done the first part of the package relating to support for the intelligence sector and are to return sometime between June and July to continue training in that particular area. He said too another UK officer is to begin conducting training from today.
The ranks will undergo training in the use of night goggles which will be donated to the force on completion of the course.
The UK four-year security plan caters for: improving intelligence gathering, rapid response and forensic capability among other areas. UK High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler and Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon signed an interim MOU for the plan last August 10. Several aspects of the SSRAP were considered in the wake of the killings at Lusignan and Bartica during the first two months of this year.
