Project “C-PETS” launched in Police ‘D‘ Division
Commissioner Seelall Persaud, Commander Ian Amsterdam and senior officers with the steering committee of the C-PETS Project (Delano Williams photo)
Commissioner Seelall Persaud, Commander Ian Amsterdam and senior officers with the steering committee of the C-PETS Project (Delano Williams photo)

RESIDENTS on the East Bank of Essequibo and West Demerara should have safer communities with the implementation of the Guyana Police Force’s ‘D’ Division C-PETS programme which was launched on Thursday afternoon at the Tuschen Car Park, East Bank Essequibo.

 Commander Amsterdam presents a cash incentive to a top performer in the region at the launch on Thursday
Commander Amsterdam presents a cash incentive to a top performer in the region at the launch on Thursday

C-PETS- Creating Positive Environments through Safer Communities and Partnerships is an initiative of Commander of ‘D’ Division, Ian Amsterdam, and is part of the strategic plan for his Division on how to get community involvement and partnerships with the police.
The initiative will see the building of partnerships with the stakeholders and building cohesion between the faith-based organisations in the various districts within the Division. In his power-point presentation Commander Amsterdam said that the vision of the project is to share the burden of policing through partnerships for the development of safer communities.
In addition the initiative is to promote trust, empower citizens to develop a sense of personal security and to remove the social ills from their communities. The overall objective he added is to reduce crime and fear of crime within the communities within the Division and enhance community safety and security while reducing the incidents of domestic violence and

A Section of the gathering at the launching of project yesterday at Tuschen EBE
A Section of the gathering at the launching of project yesterday at Tuschen EBE

empowering youths. According to Amsterdam, C-PETS also aims at the reduction of drugs and alcohol abuse among citizens and promote sports, culture, entertainment and a healthy lifestyle awareness. He told the gathering of police ranks, scouts, members of the community and business sector that the C-PETS PROJECT will not only be formed and left to fall at the roadside but there would also be the establishment of a Management Committee, Research Committee (SARA), Domestic Violence and Health Committee, Media and Public Relationships Committee, Crime and Security Committee, Culture, Sports and Entertainment Committee and an Empowerment Committee. Commander Ian Amsterdam said that while the C-PETS PROJECT will be looking for the general support of the communities there are several benefits which the project will offer the community and that include:
Skills training, development of sports, youth and scouts groups, music and dance programmes, drug abuse resistance, education training, driving courses and seminars, domestic violence/substance abuse/educational and counselling sessions, healthy lifestyle programmes, self-defence, acrobatics, drumming, computer, photography and security training among others. C-PETS, according to the Commander, will benefit schools, business communities, faith-based organisations, early school leavers, young adults and unemployed, domestic violence and child abuse victims, parents and differently abled persons.
There are several stakeholders on board with the project according to the Commander. He listed some of them-the private sector, station management committees, entertainers, promoters and the Ministry of Education. Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police, Seelall Persaud said that the entire administration of the Force has been changed to ensure that the police are involved in something else rather than law enforcement and its recruitment drive.
The Police Commissioner said that crime is a social problem and as such requires social solutions to deal with it. He added that while law enforcement goes a far way in dealing with the social ills of society it cannot complete the job hence the need for partnerships and working along with the communities. He stated that the institution of the family is broken down and most of the problems being faced by the society are a spin-off from the broken institution of the family. The Commissioner pointed to the yarning of young people to turn to unconventional activities due to the lack of proper supervision mostly in single-parent homes where parents are busy out of the home trying to earn to take care of dependents. Persaud exhorted that working with the future generation is something that everyone can do but the question of how effective those activities are is what is important.
His view is that the new approach taken by the Guyana Police Force in working with the communities is an effective approach. He said that taking young people out of their communities to work with them and then sending them back into those very communities are not effective thinking and working. According to Persaud, the approach has to be taken at the community level where the focus is not just on a few from the communities but rather the entire community so that the change blanket is spread across the board.

(By Leroy Smith)

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