EVEN as Guyana’s rising crime rate continues to be a sore point for the new APNU+AFC administration, Vice-President and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has proposed re-directing the resources of Community Policing Groups (CPGs) into “beefing-up” the operations of the Guyana Police Force (GPF). The minister, while speaking to this publication,specifically referred to vehicles currently in the possession of CPGs,as well as those parked in the compound of the subject ministry,and even those ordered under the previous administration.
“With the present crime increase,” Minister Ramjattan said on Thursday,June 25 at the public buildings, “I decided that why not give those vehicles that were there in the Ministry of Public Security, and those that have been ordered to [sic] the police, because a lot of stations don’t have any transportation.”
This measure taken at the policy level by the minister comes as the surging crime situation continues to ail this new administration, which came into office following the May 11 general and regional elections.
“[There has been] a lot of crimes in the recent weeks, and the major counter to it is to ensure there are lots more police patrolling all the various divisions,” the Public Security Minister said in an invited comment. “I have asked the Policing Community Group Head, Mr. [Dennis] Pompey, who has a number of vehicles, to transfer them to the police.”
When asked whether this move by the minister will impair the ability of those groups to tackle crime at the community level, Ramjattan responded in the negative, saying, “The policing community groups [sic] are but a supplement to the police force.The frontline that must be resourced is the police force, and the last administration bought a huge set of vehicles for the policing community groups.”
Minister Ramjattan is adamant that he made a judgement call for the re-directing of resources to the police force to increase its operations. Minister Ramjattan still sees the importance of policing groups at the community level, but his position for now is that the groups should “just hold on a while.”
Another issue which the minister hopes to tackle is the 911 Emergency Service,which has been problematic for a long time. On that note, Ramjattan said he had requested recommendations from Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud on how to improve that system “by far as to what is presently the situation.”