Dear Editor,
The Guyana Police Force wishes to clarify misleading information published by the Guyana Times in an article yesterday captioned `No weapons linked to crime – Crime Chief’.
The Guyana Police Force is informing the public that at the forum hosted by the police on Tuesday October 13, 2015, at the Tagore Memorial Secondary School, Corentyne, Berbice, the Commissioner of Police Mr. Seelall Persaud, DSM, did say that the Police Force did not expect that criminals using firearms to rob persons as their only means of providing for themselves would turn in the firearms.
He also said that, similarly, it was not expected that drug traffickers and persons involved in organized crime and who use firearms to protect their interests would turn in the firearms.
However, the Commissioner of Police emphasised that the 171 firearms that had been turned in so far can no longer get into the hands of persons with criminal intent, nor can they be used to harm persons in moments of anger by persons who had possession of them.
That can no way support a conclusion, as alluded to in the article, that the Firearm Amnesty Programme was a failure.
In fact, the Guyana Police Force sees it as a huge success. The intent of the Amnesty was to have unlicensed firearms turned in to the police and that is exactly what the programme has achieved.
Yours faithfully,
Ivelaw Whittaker
Public Relations and Press Officer
