PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar,while addressing the Annual Guyana Police Officers Conference at Eve Leary, Georgetown,on Thursday, commended the force for its initiatives in building broader partnerships with members of communities.According to the Head of State, the approach is indeed deserving of admiration as he called for the partnership to be reciprocated by the other partners of the force and those whom the police represent. Mr. Ramotar made specific reference to partnerships with the faith- based organisations, communities, sports personalities and clubs, vendors, business persons, miners, loggers, tourism operators and more specifically,the hinterland communities.Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud told the gathering of senior officers and other dignitaries that since the partnership with the Cops and Faith Network (CFN), the body has expanded its collaboration with the police from just ensuring a second chance for first offenders to one which is family oriented.
He explained that the CFN now acts as a family- liaison body, where a member of the faith- based organisation along with the police will engage victims of serious crimes or relatives of victims affected by murders, suicides, traumatic accidents and fatal accidents.
For such persons, the CFN will provide counselling for the families and then act as a bridge between the investigators and relatives in order to provide feedbacks on the progress of the investigations, Persaud added.
The commissioner also told the conference that the force chaplaincy programme, like the CFN, has added more services to its initial line of collaboration. He stated that the programme, instead of just presiding over ceremonies, has now included the counselling of its ranks whenever they would have had traumatic experiences. He reaffirmed that the police engaged in such a programme because of the logistical constraints of moving ranks across the country to a central location for counseling; now, counselling is being done in the districts where the identified ranks are located.
In addition, the police will continue their engagement with the Ministry of Culture,Youth and Sport which is also supported by faith- based organisations. Now, the faith- based partners are involved as the invigilators of the learners’ theoretical examination, which aims to bring more credibility to the process, according to the Commissioner of Police.
He stressed also that presently, the Guyana Police Force has two full-time certifying officers who are now stationed at the Kuru Kuru Cooperative College on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. It was pointed out that with the presence of the two officers, every single graduate leaving the school is now able to graduate with a driver’s licence. This is possible after they would have completed the training and examination. There is also collaboration with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.
Commissioner Persaud told the conference that the re-introduction of the Drug Abuse Resistance Programme has resulted in remarkable benefits and successes. According to him, they were able to reach out to 1,762 students from a total of 48 schools across the country.
The Social Crime Prevention Programme has been expanded beyond Albouystown and is now in all police divisions, Commissioner Persaud stated. He stressed that the engagements are now geared at recreational and educational skills, as well as workforce development in addition to the normal activities it was initially focused on.
This year’s Annual Police Officers Conference was held under the theme: “Providing Effective Security through Partnerships, Enhanced Public Trust and Capacity Building.”