Following a 9% increase in serious crimes for the year, newly-appointed Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum says existing crime fighting strategies need to be revisited.
In the first interview following his appointment, Blanhum, a 16-year veteran of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) who took up his new post yesterday, described the rise in serious crimes as worrying and he said his biggest challenge would be keeping the crime rate down.
Up to the end of last month, Blanhum said increases in murder, robbery, larceny from the person and rape have been recorded.
“Definitely this is something we need to tackle as soon as possible,” he told Stabroek News, while noting that historically the June/July period normally sees an increase in crime because there are a lot of commercial activities coming on. “…If we have a 9% now and we are going into that period, we wouldn’t be looking too good,” he added.
As a result, Blanhum said he plans to meet with the divisional detective officers and revisit some of the existing crime fighting strategies. He also said he has already submitted an outline of some of his own plans for fighting crimes.
Blanhum also said that he plans to focus on crimes around commercial banks in light of the number of cases where customers have been targeted.
Only last week, a rice farmer, Hardat Kissoon, was killed by a gunman, who tracked him from a city bank.
“This is something I plan to look into and we are going to try as much as possible to ensure that we don’t have such occurrences,” he said.
Towards this end, he said plain clothes ranks will be placed around banks as part of a plan to deter robbers.
He also urged all those conducting business at the banks to be conscious of their surroundings and to ensure that they secure themselves.
“In the meantime, citizens you need to be self-conscious. You reading the newspaper, you know some of these criminal elements, you know their modus operandi, and you know what they are capable of doing, so you need to take precaution. We are going to do our part. Our mandate is to prevent and detect crime,” he said.
Asked if there is enough manpower to deploy in the commercial district, he said that the force has done analyses and knows which banks it needs to conduct surveillance on.
In addition, he said that tackling armed robberies in which guns are used is high on his agenda. “That is why we have been calling for… stricter penalties as it relates to gun robberies, firearms in general,” he added.
Blanhum urged all to assist the police by being cautious.
Experience
Blanhum, who had been serving as Deputy Crime Chief since last November, expects the new post to be “an uphill task” but added that he strongly believes that he is adequately prepared.
Speaking about his career experience, he noted that he has spent 16 of his 17 years in the force in the CID, during which time he has worked on murder and robbery cases. He said he did the CID Induction Course followed by the Junior Investigators Course and was both times adjudged the best student. According to him, it was after these two achievements that his “journey began” and his superiors started to take notice of him.
He recalled that in 2004, he took part in the Standard Officers’ Cadet Course, based on recommendations, and was successful. The late former Police Commis-sioner Henry Greene, he said, sent him back to the CID, where he continued as a detective. Although he said he would not describe Greene as a mentor, Blanhum noted that the now deceased Top Cop was always behind him because of his intellect.
Blanhum is a University graduate with a Degree in Public Administration and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Development Studies. He also said he will complete his pursuit of a Commonwealth Master’s in Public Administration.
As part of training during his career, he has visited many countries, including the Republic of Korea, Colombia, Guatemala and Cuba. Most of the training, he informed, was in the area of organised crime.
Upon his return from these trips, he conducted training sessions both within and outside of the police force.
“To be honest it wasn’t a surprise… persons would have been touting me before… my superiors,” he said when asked for a reaction to his new posting. Blanhum said that along the way he has received support from many persons within and outside of the force.
He was at one time the division detective officer for ‘C’ Division and previously acted as Crime Chief when either the Crime Chief or deputy was away.
