Government yesterday unveiled an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded US$15 million plan to reduce the levels of crime and violence here over the next five years.
A press statement from the IDB Guyana office said that government, through its Ministry of Public Security, yesterday launched the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP), which “will contribute nationally to reducing crime and violence through a comprehensive approach that combines preventive strategies with institutional strengthening activities.”
It stated that the government of Guyana “is placing significant resources to address challenges such as rising homicide rates robbery rates that significantly exceed global averages and frequent cases of domestic violence.”
The CSSP, which follows a Citizen Security Programme, will be executed through a Project Implementation Unit within the Ministry of Public Security, the IDB noted.
President David Granger said earlier this month that the country is beginning to win the war on crime though he noted that there is lots of work to be done.
There have been numerous reports of serious crimes since the start of the year, including 10 murders in the first two weeks as well as several armed robberies. Detectives, however, have managed to make breakthroughs in most of the crimes for this year so far, resulting in suspects being charged. Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has credited this success, in part, to an increased public confidence in the police.
At the CSSP launch at the Marriott Hotel yesterday, Ramjattan was reported as having highlighted recent country statistics for crime and violence and also pointing to the significant investment being made by government to address the situation. He also noted the need for not only financial and technical inputs but ownership and a national undertaking for the success of the initiative. With the combination of partners on the CSSP and strong community involvement, the minister predicted success in reducing crime and violence in Guyana over time, the IDB statement added.
IDB Representative Sophie Makonnen, according to the statement, spoke of the high costs of violence and crime and the long-term consequences that put a significant burden on individuals, families, communities and ultimately country economies. She committed the bank’s support to continue to build upon its current operational and knowledge base, providing countries like Guyana with high value-added financing and technical assistance under an integrated approach that both prevents and confronts violence and insecurity.
According to the statement, the CSSP is designed to increase the capacity of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in criminal investigation practices and crime prevention strategies. “It focuses on skills training to improve community engagement and cooperation as well as systems strengthening in order to more effectively use data to proactively prevent and investigate crime and violence,” it said.
It added that the programme will rely on the capacity of the Guyana Prison Services (GPS) to incorporate and deliver rehabilitation and reintegration services to detainees and inmates. “CSSP activities will finance sustainable re-entry initiatives by assessing specific needs across the prison system, developing a suitable model for rehabilitation and reintegration and setting up a case management programme to support and track inmate progress. Training for GPS staff to deliver these services is also included,” it added.
Additionally, the statement said the community-level crime prevention actions will target 20 communities based on homicide, burglary, robbery and domestic violence rates and the final list of communities under the CSSP will be compiled once the disaggregated data from the 2012 Census is released.
Further, it was stated that the programme will address vulnerability through social prevention interventions and focus on developing a core of skills and capabilities among community members to allow them to cope with violence, unemployment and counterproductive behavioural risk factors.
