Guyanese must incorporate crime prevention measures in daily routine
–    Crime Chief
CRIME Chief Seelall Persaud said, on Wednesday, that Guyanese must incorporate prevention measures in their daily routine to reduce the level of robberies, especially in the countryside.
He was, at the time, giving police ranks and the media a ‘Christmas Policing Presentation’ at Police Officers’ Mess, Eve Leary, Georgetown.
The Assistant Commissioner highlighted that armed robberies usually take place during large cash transactions where there is no security in place for businesses as well as individuals.
Persaud said that persons continue to leave large sums of money in their cars unattended and some businesses do not use bank transactions but their employees while other places of business have lone watchmen, who are over 70 years old and have to work 12-hour shifts, with their surveillance cameras non-functioning or not turned on.
He said: “We have to be conscious, especially in the countryside, where men walk down streets and see an open door and get an opportunity to commit a crime and, generally, there is a lack of awareness where some people have no consideration for security, no planning in business transactions and the need for businesses to use the banks rather than employees to do money transactions.”
Persaud pointed out that the police depend heavily on the public for information evidence, in light of identifying suspects of crimes but there has been significant work with communities and improved cooperation.
Speaking about anti-crime plans, he noted that police intelligence groups are connected in all divisions and there is information sharing but they are still in the process of building an Information Technology (IT) platform, where there will be improvements while ranks take reports, statements on investigations and allow collection of data from the public to be analysed.
Persaud said there are anti-crime strategies where choke-point patrols are permanent but there have been challenges, as regards monitoring of ranks in some areas where they are misled into a different direction. But, all in all, they have maintained station patrols in all divisions where there is sub-division coordination.
He acknowledged that they have had very good information sharing with the interior police stations where photos of suspects involved in criminal activities are available but cannot be sent to those locations.
Persaud said stations are connected countrywide and, in addition, they have their informant programme through which information sharing is on stream, in which patrol units can be reached by ranks from Police Intelligence and Criminal Investigation Department Units to pass reports to patrols.
He stated, too, that the police have been working assiduously on their Scouts Programme, which carries links to communities and they have had consistent training and ranks from the Narcotics Branch and Intelligence Units are vetted yearly.
Persaud also spoke of the addition of new detectives in the Citizen Security Programme (CSP) Community Action Component, where they have direct involvement with communities; the employment of qualified personnel and the construction of a new Forensic Laboratory.

On criminal trends

Seelall  Persaud reported, Wednesday, that the serious crimes between 1998 and 2011 saw a downward trend.
But, this year, there has been a 1 per cent increase and, from 2003, there has been fluctuations in murders apart from the crime wave period. However, domestic killings topped while there was a steep rise in executions in 2008 as it relates to Lusignan, Bartica and Lindo Creeks.
The Crime Chief said that most murders occurred in ‘A’ Division, where there is a high concentration of population, followed by ‘E&F’ Division, while burglaries, armed robberies as well as the use of other instruments, robbery with violence and aggravation statistics do not reflect a large increase.
Persaud said robberies in the streets, attack in homes, piracy, break and enter are the most frequent serious crimes in the country. But police have seized 114 illegal firearms this year and lot of those are from ‘A’ and ‘E&F’ Divisions.
He reported, to a gathering of police ranks and the media, that handguns are more referred and originate from Brazil, United States (U.S.) and Europe and ‘E&F’ Division has seen a rise in serious crimes from 2008 and 2009, especially in the mining areas where there is a gold rush, with a lot of money circulating that led to an increase in disorderly murders.
Persaud told the gathering that, in Region 10 (Upper Demerara/ Upper Berbice), there has been a significant number of burglaries but one man was arrested and charged for 16  robberies.

Permanent feature

He admitted that criminal activities have become a permanent feature around the world but, locally, there is no evidence of persons organising themselves as in putting logistics together with the aim of committing crimes.
Persaud proffered that persons plan to commit robberies and, after, they go back to their respective places and, as such, there is no evidence of any structured group but persons know each other, get together by way of phone calls and do their homework before perpetrating crimes.
He said drug trafficking does not pose significant problems here but police have found that big organisations are targeted and there is a heavy social cause with a aim of getting here and they have experienced some violence by local groups, mainly because of disagreements
Persaud agreed there is some arrangement in the distribution of cannabis sativa (marijuana) and associated violence, as intelligence reports suggest that major groups are involved in cocaine trafficking.
He said some level of organisation has been seen within those groups with some associated violence but reports suggest that the major drug groups are involved in cocaine trafficking.
The Crime Chief said that several insurgency gangs are seen around the world and local police have experienced some level of violence against symbols of State authority and reports suggest that links to suspects were traced to persons involved in local politics and sentiments to local opposition and would have influenced some criminal gangs to perpetrate violence.
He said, so far, police intelligence suggests that the gangs were dismantled, some killed but remnants in society are being monitored because there is potential for re-organising while others are in prison.

Contraband things

Persaud added that the security of the prisons are revisited by the Joint Service and activities to rid the prisons of what they call contraband things have seen regular operations to target those prisoners in possessions.
He said youth programmes have been expanded in all divisions in Scouts and clubs where the Citizen Security Programme (CSP) targets youths to get them involved in vocational skills building.
Persaud said extremist organisations is another feature in the national community and Guyana is multi-cultural society where some level of violence has been experienced in the past.
However, reports suggest such violence was motivated by local politics and involved martyrs rather than gangs, he said.
Persaud recalled that, recently, members of the Islamic community plotted to blow up the JFK airport and among the persons convicted for the crime were three Guyanese.
He said there have also been reports that a man with Al-Qaeda connections was in Guyana but all those historical events do not reflect on the country, where there are no terrorist activities.
About high seas piracy, Persaud said there are recorded attacks on small scale fishermen between the Guyana and Suriname borders and operations targeting that crime have commenced, with Surinamese collaboration, but some issues arose and are impacting negatively on local patrolling.