SOCIETY has enhanced its confidence in the Guyana Police Force (GPF) since the present government has taken on unprofessional behavior and corruption within the society, thereby making the Force’s work more effective.This was disclosed by Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud at the annual Officers’ Conference of the GPF which was hosted yesterday at their Headquarters, Eve Leary. The two-day event was attended by Head of State President David Granger, cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic corp and special invitees.
Underscoring that the primary objectives of the conference were to review the operations in the past and to discuss plans for the current year, the Top Cop said the year 2015 had brought its own challenges. However, the GPF had been able to make a number of successful strides especially the collaborative effort with GECOM and the joint services resulting in adequate security provision for the general public.
He explained that Operation Dragnet had positively impacted crime and traffic control and the Criminal Investigations Department in the latter half of 2015, coupled with social crime prevention programme have served to reduce fear of crime in Guyana.
Mr Persaud said by cultivating strong partnerships the police force was able to approach crime and prevention to better serve communities, thereby increasing public trust and safety.
In highlighting some of the achievements of 2015 the Commissioner listed as follows: A group health insurance was established last year, GPF fallen Heroes Foundation, Occupational Health and Safety Officer with peripherals in each division, annual fitness assessment for all members 45 years and below, expansion of the social crime prevention programme, workers retention by active police association and an active women’s police association.
He said an office was created for audits and inspections which added to the effectiveness of the system. The law enforcement official noted that support from the local US embassy had seen staff from the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) trained to international best practices in 2015, which resulted in adjustments to the Police Force standing orders which guide OPR operations.
In addition, he said a transportation asset maintenance system had been introduced which resulted in less downtime for vehicles. There is also a huge youth programme that focuses on sports, rehabilitating sports infrastructure and life skills education amongst others.
He further added that the Zara Group, which is a diaspora group out of New York, in the past donated three computer labs, which graduated 10,600 persons in 2015. The Zara Group had also assisted the GPF with cyber security training and they were currently working on a project to computerize CID headquarters and acquire investigative software to assist their operations.
Meanwhile, regarding training, the commissioner said last year 420 recruits graduated but preparations for elections have caused downtime in recruit training. There was also training in specialist and technical level for senior officers while 60 ranks did overseas courses sponsored by US, UK, Russia and France. Another 355 were trained locally, inclusive of Canadian Mountain Police under the Justice Education Society Project funded by the Canadian High Commission.
He said leadership training for senior and junior officers had already begun for 2016, while next Monday the force would graduate 298 new recruits and plans were afoot to deploy 900 recruits for this year.
Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Administration David Ramnarine said Guyana was on the road to greater development and operation dragnet had enhanced the assessment of impending challenges.
He said with the upcoming local government elections and Guyana’s 50th anniversary where diplomats, visitors and mass crowds would be present, the Guyana Police Force would need enhanced and effective security planning. Therefore, he said planning and security considerations must evolve and critical analysis was needed for optimum efficiency.
“This is exactly why it is necessary to analyze the past performances in order to improve the present and future thrusts,” he said.