The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has received much needed human resources with the addition of 60 detectives and aides all of whom would have successfully completed the recently concluded CID Induction Course No 1/2017.
The course, which commenced on March 6, ran for six weeks and focused on building the capacity of members of the GPF for the benefit of the CID.
During the course, ranks were exposed to over 146 contact hours of lectures and facilitation from persons who are considered gurus in their respective fields – from the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions and senior officer of the GPF, amongst others.
There were also able to cover 61 topics which focused on investigation with special emphasis placed on their role and responsibilities during an investigation, the importance of gathering and protecting evidence and the importance of identifying offences.
Additionally, the inductees visited both the High Court and the Magistrates’ Courts, where they were able to build rapport with Justice Navindra Singh and Magistrate Judy Latchman.
Coordinator of the programme Sergeant Fraser in brief remarks said, “Over the six weeks I have seen a gradual shift in their thinking, which I believe is important because that is exactly what courses of this nature are actually geared towards, changing the mindset of people through the acquisition of knowledge.
“I do hope that with this newly acquired knowledge, …they will do the force and by extension themselves a great justice.”
Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Williams in delivering opening remarks at the programme’s closing ceremony, encouraged the new inductees to commit to widening their horizon of knowledge.
“You, the members of this programme, I want you to understand the seriousness in terms of what you will embark on following your graduation; coming to CID is a very critical task as it is a section of the force where you’ll get less sleep and as such you have to prepare your mind for a lot of work,” Williams said.
Acknowledging the fact that crime continues to take all “shapes and forms,” Williams told the inductees, “…There is no need for you to limit your mind as it relates to crime in the category that we are used to… You should not allow yourself to limit the knowledge that you have, ensure you embark upon [learning]…because at the end of the day you do not know what would come your way. It is important that you widen your horizon of knowledge in the fight and solving of crime.”
He then lauded the coordinators of the course for successfully facilitating such a large number of participants.
Meanwhile, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum welcomed the new members of the CID, all of whom, according to him will significantly boast the human resources of the department.
“We did an analysis to basically understand the problem that exists within the CID and when we look at it in terms of the ratio of the number of matters assigned to an investigator, we realize that one investigator was tasked with completing 25 high-profile files per year and this is a lot,” he explained.
“There is no secret that our work as the days go by has been increasing tremendously and so to the graduates, I want you to know that road ahead will not be an easy one,” he added.
The Crime Chief also underscored the importance of networking. “I want to urge you to continue to network. Criminals have mastered the art of networking, so not only should you network with your colleagues, network with those within your community; it is very important to work with members of the community,” he urged.
Notwithstanding, Blanhum also challenged them to always display professionalism when carrying out their duties, irrespective of what they may be.
“It’s not the 50 things that you do right that people will question, it’s the one wrong thing you do that they will question… I wish to remind you, that we as members of the GPF, have a very serious responsibility; that is to protect life and property to detect crime, to apprehend offenders as well as to maintain law and order…there is no room for corruption here in the force,” he said.
While all participants of the course were presented with certificates, three members were presented with trophies for copping the positions of first, second and third best graduating participant.
Awarded the position of best graduating student was Corporal Best who received an 83% pass rate; this was followed by Constable James who managed an 81% pass rate and Woman Constable Paul who secured a pass with 80%.
In addition to the trophies received by the trio, Crime Chief noted that they would also be considered as priority to attend training courses overseas when the opportunity arises.
