–in light of political climate

SECURITY arrangements devised for Christmas by the Guyana Police Force for Georgetown and the rest of the country are likely to be reviewed given the present political climate.Traditionally, the Guyana Police Force would unveil its “Christmas Security Arrangements” by the 15 of November and this would be accompanied by a theme.
Yesterday a senior police source out of force headquarters confirmed that given the developments in the political arena over the past week and more so on Monday, with the President proroguing Parliament, the police will have to re-visit the arrangements for policing of the country.
The senior officer did not give many details, but this newspaper understands that the police would be looking to have its ranks focus on more than just the commercial and traffic activities and capturing persons bent on committing acts of robbery, etc.
There would also be much vigilance to guard against acts of sabotage, vandalism, disrupting of the peace and other activities which are not very often associated with the Christmas season, although those are crimes which do usually occur from time to time.
According to sources close to the administration of the force, the draft for the detailing of the Christmas security plan is almost complete, but with the new political climate there would be some additions to the arrangement.
The Christmas season is a time when the Guyana Police Force requires all of its ranks to be on board with the policing and security of the country and annual leave is not usually allowed, especially to senior police ranks. Strict and close attention will be paid to ranks who absent themselves from duty without valid reasons, given the already existing shortage of manpower in the organisation.
The Guyana Police Force is scheduled to unveil to the media and by extension the public its plans for the security arrangements, in keeping with the traditional, heightened economic and commercial activities, associated with Christmas.
Presentations are usually done by the Commissioner of Police; the Crime Chief; the traffic Officer and ‘A’ Division commander, while other commanders are usually advised to engage the media on the individual plans in place to police their respective divisions in the areas of crime, traffic and general policing.
The decision of the President to suspend Parliament has now caused the police administration to take several additional factors into consideration, as they set about to police the country at a time which is regarded as the busiest period, Christmas.
Last year, Assistant Commissioner of Police and ‘A’ Division Commander Derrick Josiah became involved in an unfortunate accident the day after he had interfaced with the media and presented the Christmas Security Arrangements for ‘A’ Division. He later succumbed in December to his injuries, which were suspected to have been sustained during the accident.