CRIME Chief Leslie James said he has adopted a ‘no nonsense’ approach to weed out rogue elements in the Guyana Police Force (GPF).He said he would gladly accept more personnel with the right aptitude and correct attitude since, those are the kinds of persons needed to fill certain positions in the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
As regards rogues in the CID and the wider Force, James said such persons cannot hide for long and, when the need arises, they will be dealt with condignly.
The Senior Superintendent said, since the donation of the Automated Fingerprint Equipment Identification System (AFIS) was installed at CID Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, it has had an impact, with the solution of several cold cases.
James said it has, indeed, impacted crime solving in many murder and break and enter and larceny cases where comparisons made matches.
Think twice
He said the AFIS is, indeed a plus for the CID and the equipment has boosted their capabilities in crime solving and, with the implementation of DNA testing at the new Forensic Laboratory, which will be opened this year, too, criminals must think twice before committing crimes.
The acquisition of the AFIS was through the United States (U.S.) sponsored Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), which is part of an American funded project, that has aided local Police in solving several crimes.
It has updated the system at three Police stations across the country: at Brickdam in Georgetown; Cove and John, East Coast Demerara; and Central Police Station, New Amsterdam, Berbice.
The equipment allows for fingerprints of suspects to be matched with those secured at crime scenes or already in the Police possession.
The AFIS can also be used to identify deceased persons and, further, record fingerprints with an electronic light scan for storage in a database connected to others regionally.
Since it was acquired, representatives of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), recently conducted a training session for local Police on how to operate it.