With the increased flow of information between the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and local law enforcement agencies, US Ambassador to Guyana Perry Holloway says he expects there will be “a lot more good news.”
Holloway spoke on the DEA operations here and the crime situation following the conclusion of a signing ceremony between City Hall and the US Embassy for the repair of the Stabroek Market clock.
Asked about the DEA operations here thus far, the ambassador, while stressing that the agency is not the police, said that its main job is gathering information and sharing the information with CANU and other law enforcement agencies here. “I can tell you that the information sharing is increased dramatically since the DEA arrived and the office is tripled in size since we got here in February.” He stressed that the DEA in Guyana is fully staffed.
Noting that there will now be a greater flow of information going forward, he said that the training being provided to CANU and the police has increased, “So I look forward to many things in the next six months.”
The DEA was officially set up here in February. The ambassador had said that it would begin establishing facts on the drug trade here followed by recommendations and programmes.
The US’s position is that the drug trade here cannot be crippled unless the DEA has the backing of the judiciary and the police and there is international cooperation.
For years there had been attempts to have a DEA office here but this had been held up for various reasons and the former PPP/C government had also been accused of not wanting a DEA office here.
Meanwhile, with regard to Guyana’s current crime situation, Holloway said that everyone wants to see crime go down and the government he believes is committed to making this happen and has taken some ”very good steps” in this regard.
He pointed out that the bad guys are well funded and don’t play by the rules. “So it is always three steps forward, two steps backwards game but I do think progress is being made and I look forward for a lot of good things to happen in the next six to eight months now that the DEA has had six months to work with the government of Guyana.”
Holloway pointed out that the Guyana government has a new national drug policy out and as such he looks “to even better things in the future.”
