MORE policemen will be deployed to the community of Mibicuri at Black Bush Polder on the Corentyne Coast from Monday and the police station there will get a vehicle by the end of the year.The announcement was made Wednesday by Commander of ‘B’ Division Christopher Griffith, who was part of a high-level police team which met residents at the community’s Primary school. The residents greeted the news with loud applause.

Residents in the area complained of being fed up at times, and being told that a policeman could not respond to their call for help, because there is only one officer on duty. In other cases, even if policemen are available, residents are usually told the police are without a vehicle to respond.

Assistant Commissioner Balram Persaud, performing the functions of Police Commissioner, said the provision of the vehicle to the Mibicuri Police Station was part of the initiative to provide every station with vehicles. The initiative is being funded through a US$5 million grant from the Chinese government, Persaud said.

Sharing statistics with residents, Balram said there has been a 13% reduction in crimes for Mibicuri for the year thus far, in comparison to the same period last year.
Mr Persaud reiterated earlier the claim by the police that crime is not spiralling out of control, and said that that impression comes from sensational media reporting of crime.
Of recent, the police have faced the embarrassing case of its Assistant Commissioner and former Crime Chief Leslie James being robbed and of renowned historian Tota Mangar being attacked and his vehicle hijacked in the city.
Mibicuri and Black Bush Polder in general have borne the unwanted reputation of being the suicide capital of Guyana, but statistics show that tag could soon be removed, with only one reported case for the year so far – an exact comparison for the same period last year. For the entire Berbice region, 29 cases of suicide were reported, Balram stated.
The worrying problem for Mibicuri and the wider Berbice region is domestic violence, the Assistant Commissioner said.
The Berbice region has so far reported 582 cases for the year, but only 17 cases reached the stage where perpetrators were convicted.
The reports for Mibicuri, though, were different. Of the 15 cases of domestic violence, there were convictions in seven of those cases.
Assistant Commissioner Persaud reminded Mibicuri residents of the Police’s zero tolerance stance on domestic violence.
The main reason for suicides and domestic violence in the region is seen as alcohol abuse.
And so the police have added Mibicuri to the communities it will be working closely with to stamp out these social ills.
The police took in a team of psychiatrists to the area Monday, led by Dr Bhiro Harry, the head of the Georgetown Public Hospital’s Psychiatric Unit to talk to parents and children.
Dr Harry urged parents to love their children and for them to express that love towards them, both verbally and by their actions. He urged the parents to deal with their children “properly” at times when they make mistakes, reassuring them. Dr Harry urged parents to seek help from the community’s religious leaders, or from family and friends, if they are unsure about how to deal with situations at home.
He said that oftentimes parents react angrily to certain behaviour patterns in children, ignorant of the fact that they could be suffering from a mental illness.
A police team is expected to return to Mibicuri to work with residents in developing appropriate programmes to help correct the social ills facing the community.