With a number of high-profile murders still to be solved, new Crime Chief Lyndon Alves has assured that steps are being taken to bolster this department with adequate staff and equipment to go after the many cold cases.

Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle during an exclusive interview on Wednesday Alves said the Cold Case Unit is still in its infancy stages and work is being done to ensure the effective staffing of the department and to also ensure that it receives the necessary resources, both human and equipment.

Contrary to comments in some section of the society, Alves said the Cold Case Unit is not being flooded with retirees. He said that the unit, once fully up and working, would be staffed by members of the Guyana Police Force. The unit is tasked with reviewing case jackets for files which have not yet been prosecuted or where prosecution might have been stalled. They are expected to examine the files and make recommendations as to what other elements needed to be added or worked on to ensure that those cases are closed.
Asked about two high-profile cases, Monica Reece and Ronald Waddell, the Crime Chief indicated that there has been no new information which the police received in those matters. He, however, assured that nevertheless the work on those files is ongoing and every new bit of information is checked out and investigated. Assistant Commissioner of Police David Ramnarine while acting as Top Cop had indicated that during the initial stages of the Monica Reece Investigation, “there was an unprofessional course of action that was taken” he however never divulged what exactly that “unprofessional course of action” was.

Prosecution
Meanwhile, the Guyana Chronicle asked the Crime Chief about specific steps being taken to address poor prosecution cases, to which he responded that the force is looking at a number of areas where losses in cases are being recorded. “First, we are looking at training of all ranks from general constables to senior investigators and to also do more crime scene investigations.”

One of the main areas which the police Investigative arm is also looking to build capacity is its practice of conducting recorded of interviews/confession statements as against just going ahead with the written statements. This, Alves says does help in successful prosecution as it in many cases eliminates the instances of technicalities which is often responsible for cases being lost by the prosecution. There have been cases in the past where the police announced that they would have secured confession statements but when the accused appears in court; the contention is always made by them or their legal representatives to the magistrate that they were beaten and or tortured into providing the confession statements.

Touching on the Major Crimes Investigation Unit, Alves said it was never meant to be a department which “takes over” the probes of serious matters which take place in the various divisions, but rather complement the work of other sleuths, new Crime Chief, Deputy Commissioner of Police Lyndon Alves has said. Alves was asked about the functions of that unit and the Special Cases Unit and how they operate as against the work which is done in the respective divisions. There have been cases in the past where detectives in various divisions complained about making headways in their probes but were forced to hand these over to the Major Crimes Investigation Unit which operates out of the Force Headquarters under the direct command of the Crime Chief. On Wednesday, Alves indicated that based on the nature of the matter at hand, which in many instances are serious crimes, the judgment call is made by the Commissioner of Police or the Crime Chief to have the specialised investigators from the Major Crimes Unit move into the division and support the investigations on the specific matter. “That unit is here to look into and conduct probes into high profile matters. The divisions also have their own responsibilities and based on the nature of the crime, the CoP or the Deputy Commissioner Law Enforcement will decide if the Major Crimes will be sent into the division,” Alves pointed out.

He continued: “It is not a case where we take away any investigations from any particular division, we work in conjunction with the local detectives and it becomes a two-fold one as they would start the investigations and we would join in to ensure that the matter is completed so that we are able to have a successful prosecution in the end.” Addressing the issue of a spike in crime, Alves said that according to the Force’s statistics there is an overall -8 percent decrease in crime. He said the force through the CID would continue to work make citizens safer.