The last of three new computer laboratories was yesterday handed over to the Guyana Police Force by US-based Zara Reality Holdings, equipping local law enforcement personnel with the technology needed for today’s digital world.
This is according to Zara company official Sarvan Kumar Budhu, who also pledged provision of technical support and training to officers of the force. “Time has changed …crime has changed. We have to educate the force so that they can deal with the change in time and crime,” he said.
Dedicated to the company that donated the computers, the Zara Computer Training Centre, located in the Police Officers’ Training Centre, Eve Leary, was yesterday afternoon commissioned with resounding expressions of gratitude from Guyana’s Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell, Director of Public Prosecution Shalimar Ali-Hack and Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, although absent, through both the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Law Enforcement Seelall Persaud. So far, Zara has donated three computer labs, totalling $60M, to the police force; one in Berbice, Essequibo and Georgetown. There are 30 computers at the Berbice lab, 36 at the Essequibo lab and 30 at the Eve Leary lab.
Executives of the donor company, Jay Sobhraj, Mardeo Singh and Budhu pointed out that as Guyana begins to move away from manual transactions to “plastic,” it should expect criminals to diversify into areas such as cybercrimes and thus should be prepared.
“All the big robberies will be a thing of the past… IT is no longer a skill it is a culture… you cannot have the criminals moving with the times and the police not moving,” Budhu said in his remarks.
While Deputy Commissioner Persaud explained that the provision of the computers was a great step, he stressed the importance of backup support and maintenance of the systems. “Don’t just give us a computer lab and leave us, give us a process,” he said.
It is against this background that Zara’s Mardeo Singh pointed out that the company will also be giving classes to officers in computer maintenance and repairs.
