The PNCR last week called on the government to institute and implement measures to significantly improve the pay and conditions of service of the police force so that it could attract the calibre and number of recruits it requires.
The main opposition party in a press statement drew attention to what it described as “the intolerably high levels of criminal violence, especially in the form of armed robberies,” pervading Guyana today and “jeopardizing the safety and security of our citizens.”
Against this background, the party said it must remind the administration that public security is its responsibility as the Government of Guyana and so it “must implement effective measures to protect our communities from the scourge of armed robberies and other manifestations of organized criminality.”
And the PNCR contended that armed robberies on the coastland cannot be controlled without improving border security in the hinterland.
“Therefore, it is a matter of importance and vital necessity that there should be stricter border surveillance to staunch the influx of illegal weapons,” the party asserted.
It also recalled that according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud earlier, there were 623 robberies under arms up to 31 October, and of these 449 involved guns and 174 other weapons. This gives Guyana the appalling rate of two armed robberies every day or one every 12 hours, the PNCR noted.
The party observed that many of the firearms used in these crimes were manufactured in Brazil, with which Guyana has a long, largely unmonitored border, and were brought into the country illegally. Commissioner of Police Henry Greene had earlier publicly admitted that the force had failed to stop the gun runners “who are bringing weapons into this country and trading in weapons,” the PNCR noted.
And in the party’s view, despite the soaring number of armed robberies, the Minister of Home Affairs “seems totally confused about how to counter this challenge.”
