INFORMATION Technology specialist in the Guyana Police Force (GPF), 36-year-old Shivpersaud Bacchus yesterday won this year’s Best Cop award.Bacchus, a Deputy Superintendent of Police who is based at Force Headquarters in Georgetown, received $250,000 in prize money and a plaque from Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud on behalf of the GPF.

Additionally, the IT specialist received a round trip to New York and Arrow Point Nature Resort from the Roraima Group of Companies and dinner for two at Duke Lodge as well as a trophy.
Speaking with the media after the ceremony yesterday, Bacchus explained that he has been serving the Guyana Police Force for the past 15 years and he came through the ranks after leaving the Guyana Police Force Training School.
Bacchus said that he previously served in the areas of crime-fighting before he was asked to enter the IT section of the Force, befitting his qualifications in that area of specialisation.
Bacchus is the second cop who is not in mainstream crime-fighting to have won the Best Cop Award in recent times. Last year Information Technology Specialist, Inspector Jermaine Johnson from the Information Technology section also won the Best Cop Award.
IT STRATEGIES
“It is a tremendous fight because we had in the past the CID dominating this part of the awards and now the IT is changing the pattern. We are looking to better our strategies in terms of crime-fighting and operate according to best practices in keeping with the local and international standards,” Bacchus told the media when asked about being awarded Best Cop, over those in mainstream crime-fighting.
Over the years Bacchus has been assisting in positioning the GPF alongside the rest of the world in terms of Information Technology and its benefits in crime-fighting.
DELIVERING COMPUTER TRAINING
In a brief overview of Bacchus’s work, Assistant Commissioner Balram Persaud said that the man has designed, developed and delivered computer training classes to police ranks from as low as Constables to Assistant Commissioners of Police.
Additionally, he has also assisted in offering computer classes to schools across sections of the country with no costs to the beneficiaries. The Deputy Superintendent of Police is also responsible for the supervision of three computer centres within the Guyana Police Force in Corentyne, Essequibo and Georgetown.
Persaud said that Bacchus continues to perform all of his functions with very little supervision while performing at an extremely high standard and achieving excellent results in all areas of work.

Meanwhile, the runner-up Best Cop position went to Detective Corporal Derwin Eastman of the Brickdam Police Station who pocketed $200,000 for his performance on the job with the police ‘A’ Division.
He was described as a very dedicated police officer who volunteers his service to the force even when off-duty by sharing information as it becomes available to him. He has been instrumental in investigating a number of serious crimes within ‘A’ Division and was regarded as a very honest and trustworthy police officer in whom a lot of confidence is placed.
Eastman was also awarded the Best Cop for his division for solving nine murders, five cases of possession of illegal firearms, 31 cases for narcotics and thirteen cases for robbery under arms.
There were several other persons who were awarded for their performance in the areas of traffic, murders, robbery, narcotics, illegal weapons and other serious crimes. (Leroy Smith)