`There is no way you can leave this conference without analyzing the shift in the global situation. Every country must manage their borders and people must legally enter your border.’
All ports of entry across Guyana will soon be equipped with digitalised systems to strengthen border security, as part of government’s continued investment in the security sector.
This was announced yesterday by President Irfaan Ali at the Annual Police Officers Conference, where he emphasised the need for enhancements within the customs department, particularly in response to complaints that have been received. These upgrades, he noted, will build on prior investments, which include the electronic gates, and an online Embarkation/Disembarkation form at the Cheddi Jagan International Air-port, Timehri.
“The next phase of advancement of our ports, and we’re working with the US on this, is to have a fully digitised scanner system for everything that is coming in and going out. So we are going to remove the burden on our human capacity, and we’re going to have scanners at all our ports for every single thing that is going in and coming out with traceability, accountability, and also with storage capacity so that we can have better security and better management of our border system. With that will come enhanced legislation that would see higher fines for persons who would not correctly declare what is in their bags going in and coming out”, he stated.
He noted that as the influx of migrants, particularly Venezuelans, continues, officers must be aware of the management of borders.
“There is no way you can leave this conference without analyzing the shift in the global situation. Every country must manage their borders and people must legally enter your border. So if you have illegal entry into your border, every country has that right, every country has that right to secure its borders, secure its environment and the laws provide for illegal immigrants to go back. But that scenario must be analyzed now in our region because as more immigrants come into the region, whether they are criminals, it adds pressure on the regional system”, Ali said.
These security measures will be complemented by legislative changes, including higher fines and stricter penalties for individuals attempting to bypass or manipulate the system.
“So you will see strengthened legislation, higher fines and also greater penalties for persons who would try to breach the system and cheat the system. These additions are expected immediately.”
Partnerships are expected with the National Foren-sic Science University in India to develop forensic capability and capacity, not only for Guyana, but it will be a forensic lab and ecosystem to support all of the Caribbean region.
Ali also reiterated the government’s commitment to crime prevention through digitalisation and data-driven strategies.
“And we are going to continue to invest heavily in digitisation, and that will lead us to a data-driven approach to crime fighting. This is important. We have to develop scientific approaches to crime fighting. So data, accumulation of data, analysis of data, quality of data. These are all important issues that we are addressing to develop an effective crime-fighting mechanism. So data sets, understanding data sets, analyzing data sets. And that is why we are training our police officers in all of these areas so that they will be able to use the data. They will be able to do the type of analysis that is required. They will be able to develop policing techniques based on these investments that we are making. But we can’t do this in a vacuum. For us to achieve this, it requires training and continuous training. It requires unlearning, relearning, rethinking, restrategising. And that is exactly what we are doing. We have been equipping our ranks with specialised training, whether it’s in cybersecurity, whether it’s in forensic”, the President said.
He further outlined key partnerships aimed at enhancing the capabilities of the Guyana Police Force.
“But right now, we are partnering with the New York Police Department, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. We are also collaborating with key institutions, international institutions, to develop our capacity and develop strategies to deal with gender-based violence or responsiveness, to enhance our capacity in homicide investigation.
“We have to ensure that the technology that we are building, technology is safe, technology is relevant, and the technology must allow greater accountability and traceability. Now, many people do not speak about traceability when we speak about technology and digitisation. But what technology and digitisation allow us to do is to evaluate performances, to evaluate weaknesses, to evaluate strengths, so that we will know who erred or who did not fulfill their duties.”
Of the $34.3 billion allocated to the Guyana Police Force in this year’s budget, more than $2 billion would be used in upgrading the force transportation fleet, along with an investment in a system, that will “ring-fence our assets, so that our assets cannot go on other rides except operational rides. That’s important, because we have to safeguard the assets,” the President stated.
“We will have GPS mapping and tracking of our assets, so that we will know when we invest $2 billion in our assets at a public call, and we know we have five vehicles within five minutes of where that call is coming from. And when none of the assets move, we will know where they were, what they were doing, and then we will have people accountable as to why they did not respond. So that is the type of investment we are making”, Ali said.
Moreover, adding to the current construction projects ongoing for the force, expected to come is “a tactical service unit in every single region, so that our response mechanism, and we are taking policing in an integrated way. So you’ll have major assets in the region, but then you’ll have these small community outposts that are quick response, and allows for agility and mobility and nimbleness that is critical in the Guyana Police Force.
Along with “a colour code of every single region, division, and a colour code of every single NDC [Neighborhood Democratic Council], from high risk to the lowest risk, so we’ll know how to deploy assets, how to deploy human assets and physical assets, all in a bid to tackle crime fighting and better policing,” President Ali added.
