According to Minister of National Security Khemraj Ramjattan the six pages which make up the protocols for the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) have been “drafted’ and will be made public.
The minister was on Thursday addressing the National Assembly as part of the debate of the 2016 National Budget.
Ramjattan explained to the house that the unit which was created by former Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee in 2013 never had operational protocols but steps have now been taken to bring their operations in line with the standard operating procedures of the Guyana Police Force.
“The protocols have been already drafted. That was not done under Mr Rohee’s administration I have now done that and it’s about six pages of protocols as to how they are going to do their operations and those are going to be made public and you will see them. It will ensure that they come in line with what is the police Standing Operating Proce-dures,” Ramjattan said.
This declaration came almost two months after a bungled SOCU surveillance operation resulted in the death of Army intelligence officer Robert Pyle, his wife Stacy Pyle and truck driver Linden Eastman on Carifesta Avenue on December 30, 2015.
Their deaths occurred after Pyle collided with Eastman as he was pursuing a vehicle transporting Alana Seebarran, wife of PPP/C MP Charles Ramson Jnr.
It had been reported that Pyle, who had been part of an operation being conducted by SOCU, believed the vehicle was occupied by the children of the Head of NICIL, Winston Brassington. There has been no explanation as to why Brassington’s children were being tailed when it would have been known that he was abroad.
Although the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has said Pyle was on a legitimate operation, his involvement has raised questions about the role of the army in the activities of SOCU, which is supposed to be a civilian law enforcement authority.
The Chambers of the Director of Public Prose-cutions has since ordered that an inquest be held into the deaths.
Ramjattan also revealed in his budget presentation that his ministry is in the process of refining a Drug Master Plan.
According to the Minister former GDF Chief of Staff Michal Atherly was fine-tuning the plan which would see the police Anti-Narcotics Unit, CANU, and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) working together under the umbrella of the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (NANA).
“They will have their autonomy, these units; but they will come under an umbrella organisation for purposes of ensuring that their work can be integrated… So CANU, in a way, would know what the Police Narcotics are doing or the GRA is doing,” Ramjattan said.
He further noted that the $3B Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP) which was launched by the administration to fight crime will function on community-based inputs.
Nothing that statistics show 52% of the country’s crimes occur in the city the minister stressed that the CSSP is a three-pronged five-year programme which will be intelligence-led and would work to increase the effectiveness of policing in the country.
