Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner Simon McBean has disclosed that plans are underway to subdivide Police Division 4A into seventeen sectors so as to better handle crime.
“… It’s a work in progress… So if we are be able to achieve that goal we will be able to deal with crime in Georgetown in a better way,” McBean said during his appearance on the Guyana Police Force (GPF) weekly Police and You programme.
Police Division 4A spans from Cummings Lodge on the East Coast of Demerara to Agricola on the East Bank of Demerara.
According to McBean, an analysis will be conducted to determine what resources are required in each sector. “…. and based on analysis, those sectors will be manned by the required vehicle, motorcycle and foot patrol as required,” he added.
Commissioner of Police (Ag) Nigel Hoppie on Thursday disclosed that the GPF has recorded a 18.7% decrease in serious crime for the year so far, compared to the same period last year.
McBean explained that while there has been an on overall decline in murders, the majority of the murders which occurred in his division fell under the category of disorderly. And this, McBean declared, needs to be addressed and will likely require social intervention. “It is deeper than policing, it is a societal challenge, on how do we train people to deal with their anger and how do we train people to walk away from situations… it may need some form of social intervention to prevent that form of murder.” The Commander acknowledged that presently there is a “gap” between the police and members of the public and the force is working towards eliminating it by going directly into communities and engaging with residents.
“We are working on the police and the public getting to know each other and that is the major issue. If we can breach that barrier then we can deal with the major issue of mistrust,” he said.
“The public does not know the inner workings of the police and there is that gap between the police and the public and our strategy is to get out there and to speak with members of the public and to get into those neighbourhoods and form communities within them,” McBean added.
