The crime fight is becoming increasingly complex

In today’s world the fight against the criminal enterprise is becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated as criminals are utilising scientific and technological advancement to peddle their “trade” and therefore the technical capacity of police have to be boosted in order for them to execute their duties effectively and efficiently and to meet the demands and requirements.

“We are living in an era where many challenges are posed to policing, which is as a result of many factors, including an increasing youth population, wider expectations, changing values, the global economic turmoil and the propensity of forces to be increasingly involved in violence” Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee observed.

He also observed that in general, the Police Force is dealing with a society that is going through a lot of changes and these influences will have an effect on the way policing is being done. As a consequence, the Guyana Police Force will have to constantly tailor its training programmes to meet the new challenges that are and will be confronting them.

Therefore police training of today has to have features which were absent during yester-year. Of course certain basic training features will always be there regardless of the era, but in the current one, training in IT is fast becoming an imperative as more modern and scientific approaches are being employed against the criminal enterprises.

In this regard the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Police Force must be lauded for having already initiated moves in this direction and as resources allow this most likely will be intensified.

Another important aspect of training in the local police force is the issue of decentralisation. In the past training which was centralised in Georgetown served as a disincentive to those in the rural communities becoming members of the police force.

In this regard the re-commissioning of the Felix Austin Police College in Berbice is good news and one would hope that this facility will recruit members of the Berbice communities into the Guyana Police Force. In fact, Minister Rohee actually expressed such a sentiment.

“It is my fervent hope that this training facility, at its recommencement of training, will be able to capture persons in this area and even beyond to join the Force,” the Minister declared.

Another important aspect of training which the Minister mentioned was the quality of training in Berbice insisting that it must not be inferior to that being provided in Georgetown

“It is my hope and expectation that the training programme at this facility will be designed in such a manner that the generally high quality of training that is provided to ranks in Georgetown is effectively duplicated at this college” he noted.

This is crucial because if there is any disparity in the quality of training the police force will be “shooting itself in the foot” as its work will be less effective and hence the national interests will be undermined and defeated which could lead to grave consequences.

The Berbice facility, according to Rohee, is only a part of the $145M budgeted for refurbishing of buildings within the police force. This is welcome as many of these buildings are in a poor state or inadequate in terms of accommodation and therefore need to be expanded.

Another encouraging aspect of the Berbice project is that it fructified through a partnership between the business community and the Home Affairs Ministry/Guyana Police Force.

Such cooperation and partnerships is needed in country like ours which has limited financial and human resources. It is believed that the adoption of similar partnerships in other facets of developmental work will certainly augur well for the future of this country.

“We are witnessing a classic example of the partnership between the police and members of the community in the furtherance of the goals of the state to enhance the security of citizens of this country”, Rohee

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