The Police Records Management Information System (PRMIS), which is expected to move the Guyana Police Force away from paper-based crime recording, was yesterday officially launched at the Guyana Police Force Training Centre, in Georgetown.
The Alberttown Police Station in the capital and the Fort Wellington Police Station on the West Berbice were selected to pilot the programme over a six-month period, after which the programme will be spread to more stations across the country.
A number of computers, printers and different software applications were handed over at the launch to the Guyana Police Force by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through their CariSECURE partnership, with full funding from the United States government.
CariSECURE is aimed at strengthening evidence-based decision making for citizen security in the Caribbean.
At the launch, Mark Cullinane, the Deputy Chief of Mission for the US Embassy, told the gathering that the US government was pleased to partner with the Government of Guyana on the CariSECURE project, which he said is just a part of their wider Youth Empowerment Services project that is aimed at reducing the involvement of youth in crimes.
“Criminals become savvier every day and their crimes more sophisticated, thanks to the ever-growing use of information technology. It is, therefore, imperative that law enforcement officials also make clever use of technology to optimise their work in stopping the illegal activities that cost this country and its people so much,” Cullinane said.
He added that for the Guyana Police Force to achieve such a feat, there must be access to real-time data to give officers a better scope of gathering information on frequent crime hot-spots and better intelligence gathering. “Such data will equip police officials with the ability to conduct crime hotspot mapping; victim and offender profiling and intelligence gathering,” he added as he said that those components would empower officers in the fight against crime.
Cullinane noted that with the installation of the new systems, the maintenance is equally important. He told the gathering that the Government of Guyana, the Regional Security System and CARICOM IMPACS will jointly share the responsibility of maintenance for the systems.
Delivering the feature address at the launch was Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, who expressed gratitude on behalf of the Government of Guyana to the United States government for fully funding the project.
Ramjattan stated that law enforcement bodies must adopt an aggressive posture to deter violent crimes and criminals. “The most effective tactic is focussed deterrence. A laser-like focus must be directed on those neighbourhoods and hotspots identified by data gathered in real-time,” he said.
He added that real-time evidence can only be gathered when systems like PRMIS are in place. Ramjattan also said that it is important to know where certain crimes often occur and only through evidence gathering can that data or information be collected in order to prevent a recurrence. He stated that since 2017, Guyana would have formed a national CariSECURE task force to implement the data-driven process. The task force comprised the Guyana Police Force, the Prison Service, the Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Public Health and the chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The task force was formed to collaborate with CariSECURE to identify the best approaches for the implementation of the project, and identify risks and challenges that could have arisen during the development and implementation.
He added that the Guyana Police Force would have already had in place a programme called Integrated Crime Information System (ICIS) and the implementation of the PRMIS project would be developing the ICIS project. “What this is doing is, of course, advancing to a far higher level and so we have to now develop what we have,” the minister said.
“It will assist the Guyana Police Force to improve citizen security, data management, analysis and monitoring of crime reduction in Guyana. This project supports the selection and use of crime data… to inform evidence-based decisions, which, of course, will have an effect on police and programmes in Guyana,” Ramjattan stated.
He further said that when the system is put in place, it would be easier for the police to take and analyse the reports made by any person in any police station. It would also make it easier for police to identify suspects’ and complainants’ information, including addresses, telephone numbers and other personal information. “This system will equip users to identify persons of interest and allow the user to easily pull up a list of persons who are known to be child molesters, sex offenders, deportees, murderers, witnesses and also to know where they are,” he added.
PRMIS, according to the minister, will have the capacity to work along with other systems in the justice system, including those of the Prisons, DPP and the courts.
At the launching, a demonstration of how the system would work was given by an official from the UNDP.
Officers are expected to benefit from a two-day training programme on the operation of the system.
