Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan has presented Cabinet with a draft security plan which outlines a strategy to be used by government to fight crime, State Minister Joseph Harmon announced on Friday.
With a serious crime being committed almost on a daily basis, Harmon told reporters at a post-Cabinet press briefing that government has been working hard to put the necessary measures in place to tackle the escalating situation.
“We have recognised that there are things that have to be done to curb that situation,” he said, while reiterating that crime is a major concern for the administration.
According to Harmon, during its meeting last Tuesday, Ramjattan presented the draft strategy. He added that as part of an ongoing inter-agency collaboration, every week the heads of the law enforcement agencies are required to prepare a report and to speak on their preparedness to deal with crime. “It is a serious matter,” he stressed, while adding that government is providing additional land, air and marine resources to aid the police.
Ramjattan earlier this week had also expressed concerns at the escalating crime situation. While lauding the Finance Mini-ster for providing budgetary allocations which would see the police re-ceiving additional res-ources, he had announced that government plans to install CCTV cameras on every street in the city. He expects that at least 100 hundred cameras will be installed under this project and they would be monitored around the clock.
The cameras installed under the previous government have so far resulted in hundreds being placed before the court for traffic offences. They also proved useful to police in at least one recent murder case.
On Monday, Ramjattan told Stabroek News that tacking the crime situation also involves the allocations of more resources to the police, inclusive of vehicles.
He said allocations for transportation is in this year’s budget. The biggest problem, however, he added, is getting an additional 1,500 to 2,000 policemen to join the force, which is undermanned by about 2,000 ranks.
Easy access to guns is thought to be a major contributory factor to the escalating crime. Police, during intelligence-led operations, roadblocks and stop and search exercises, have managed to recover many weapons. One of those weapons has been linked to a high profile murder and has led to the filing of criminal charges.
On September 1st, a gun amnesty programme aimed at getting unlicensed guns off the streets, will commence.
