As escalating crime continues to be a cause of concern, government has turned its attention to its international partners and thus far the response has been positive, Minister of State Joseph Harmon says.
His comments come at a time when there is continuing public anxiety that the country’s security forces may be ill-equipped to take on the criminals.
Speaking at his post cabinet press briefing yesterday, Harmon disclosed that so far Guyana has received international help in addressing its security challenges. The US has already provided help in the form of training and capacity building and the government is currently in communication with the British and other foreign partners, he informed.
Responding to a question on whether the government was looking in the direction of foreign assistance particularly having foreign policemen incorporated into the structure of the Guyana Police Force, Harmon disclosed that government is in communication with its overseas partners in this regard.
He said that ranks are currently receiving training from foreign law enforcement agencies in the form of capacity building inclusive of crime scene investigations. He noted that yesterday there was a seminar at the Pegasus Hotel which dealt with cybercrime. “We recognize that there is some limitation where that is concerned but it is a direction into which we are moving that deals with cybercrime and that is also ongoing”, he said.
Harmon told reporters that government has asked for assistance from the British with respect to security help which had been granted but which did not find favour with the previous administration. Harmon was referring to the Guyana Security Sector Reform Action Plan which was shelved in 2009. The two governments had created a plan for tackling the security sector but two years later it was cancelled after the PPP/C government expressed the view that it did not meet its requirements. The British had set aside £3 million to ensure the successful implementation of the plan
“We have re-engaged the British. We have re-engaged several other foreign agencies in relation to security matters and we have had good responses from those countries so far”, Harmon stated.
Updating reporters on what has been happening at the local end, Harmon said that while the president’s proposed five-point security strategy is not yet finalized, a national security committee has been meeting on a weekly basis. The committee, he said comprises the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, the Commissioner of Police, the Minister of Legal Affairs, the Minister of State, the Minister of Public Security, the Prime Minister and the head of the National Intelligence Committee. According to Harmon at those meetings the crime statistics and methodology used by police for crime fighting are reviewed and resources are allocated to the police to deal with crime.
He said that the draft security strategy is now in the possession of Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan and in due course it will be made public. It is unclear how long this process will take.
According to Harmon in the meantime, elements of the strategy are already being put in place.
It was President David Granger who convened a high-level security meeting just over a month ago over concerns that the crime situation had gotten out of hand. It was at that meeting that he presented a proposed strategy.
The first element deals with the police administration and the requirement to identify and determine across all ten administrative regions where these criminal acts are being committed and to decide on a strategy to deal with them on a national basis; the second has to do with the police organization and training; the third homes in on illegal firearms; the fourth deals with police assets and equipment and the fifth element focuses on significant improvement in police communication using the internet and access to the CCTV cameras.
“Crime is such a fluid thing you just can’t wait until the master plan is put out before you start responding to things that are happening on the street”, he said, adding that now there is a greater level of coordination between the law enforcement agencies in terms of the sharing of information. He expressed the view that when the other measures in the strategy are finalized and unveiled “we will be able to get to the root of this crime situation”.
Meanwhile Minister of Tourism Cathy Hughes who was also in attendance at the press briefing said that on a daily basis she has to speak to many persons who are concerned about the crime situation. She said that she has to do everything to allay their fears and give them assurances.
She said that during a recent trip to Toronto, Canada she told the Guyanese living there that “this (the crime fight) has to be a partnership”.
Within the past few weeks there have been a number of violent crimes. Bandits in Berbice during a brazen attack cut a hole in the wall of a house to gain entry. There have been reports coming from that county of residents being attacked by gangs of men armed with guns and cutlasses. An elderly woman was last week found dead in a pool of blood. Police are still looking for the killer who was captured on surveillance footage carrying out the gruesome attack. A Chinese national was also fatally chopped in his Mandela Avenue home. There have also been armed attacks on businesses and a number of shootings.
Police have increased their nightly and daytime patrols and have been conducting a number of intelligence-based operations which in a number of cases have led to the recovery of unlicensed firearms. There have also being increased road blocks and stop-and-search exercises.
In his budget presentation on Monday, Finance Minister Winston Jordan described the crime situation as the most pressing and most distressing problem the country currently faces.
