-as annual Police conference kicks off
EVEN as the Annual Police Officers’ Conference got underway at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has called on the members of the Force to engage in “clear thinking” to meet the challenges of today’s law enforcement. In a presentation that focused on the law enforcement realities for the Guyana Police Force in 2011, Minister Rohee outlined several major hurdles the force had to overcome in order to provide a better quality of service to and protection of the people of Guyana.

According to the Minister, the rapid developments in technology have made the world a global village that come inherent with its own set of challenges, and therefore urged the force’s members to “think beyond our borders and adapt your policing strategies to meet both local and international requirements and standards of performance” as the scrutiny to which their work will now be subjected will require functionality similar to that of a developed country.

On another note, Minister Rohee pointed out that most developing economies are on the road to recovery, leading to increased business in most parts of the world. Whilst Guyana has been cushioned from many aspects of the global economic downturn, there is an increase in economic activity, especially in the interior of the country which will require, according to the Minister, “adjustments, in some instances, and in others an increase in the allocation of resources, both human and material, to enhance security in the targeted areas.”

In urging the law enforcement officials to become more cognizant of hemispheric and regional security challenges, Minster Rohee identified a relatively high murder rate, narco-trafficking, trafficking in small and light arms, youth and gang violence, deportations and terrorism as issues that have a significant impact regionally.

In the Guyana context, drug trafficking and its spin-offs, domestic terrorism, murders, robberies, domestic related violence, the involvement of youths in crime, and gun violence were identified as those ills that plague society.
Importantly, the Minister pointed to Government’s recognition of the need for an effective law enforcement strategy to address crime and security in the country and it has not “failed in its provision of adequate resources.”
“The Government of Guyana has taken a conscious decision to engage in a series of reforms of the Guyana Police Force; the Guyana Prison Service, and the overall Criminal Justice System, with the execution of a number of programmes, including the Citizens Security Programme and the Justice Improvement Programme,” he said.
The Minister believes the latter addresses a number of critical areas in law enforcement. He pointed to the Modernisation of the Ministry of Home Affairs as another critical component to the reform process and disclosed that it included the development of a strategic plan, inherent in which is the development of an Integrated Crime Information System (ICIS); the construction of a modern forensic laboratory and the establishment of the crime and social observatory.     
In assessing the Force’s performance in 2010, the Minister dubbed it “reasonable when all factors are taken into consideration.” 
He noted that while the number of reports of murders increased, there was a decline in the number of reports of robberies and the resultant reduction in the number of reports of serious crimes in 2010, compared with 2009.  He urged officers, especially the senior members of the force to use the challenges of the last year, to improve their performance in 2011. (GINA)