THE Guyana Police Force on Thursday came in for high praise on Thursday when the Private Sector Commission (PSC) held its 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM).Chairman of the PSC’s Governance and Security Sub-Committee Gerry Gouveia said the Commission has taken note of the decline in criminal activities in the country, which is linked to swift actions by the police.
“The private sector is pleased with the work that the police are doing,” he told the AGM, singling out that the police have been very effective in solving crimes.
He said while it is perceived that crime is on the increase, the statistics will show that it is on the decrease.
At the end of the first quarter of the year, the Police Force had recorded a 19 per cent decrease in serious crimes when compared to the same period last year.
According to the police’s statistical report, there was a nine per cent reduction in reports of murder; a nine per cent decrease in gun-related robberies; an eight per cent decrease in armed robberies; a 38 per cent decrease in robberies with violence; a 38 per cent decrease in robberies with aggravation; an 18 per cent decrease in rape; and a 22 per cent decrease in break and enter and larceny.
However, Gouveia said perceptions can be frightening. “The perception… frightens the private sector because of course we see all these high-profile criminal activities, cruel criminal activities, brutal criminal activities,” he said.
Nevertheless, this reduction is credited to several initiatives taken by the Government and Police Force to manage the crime situation. The first among these is capacity-building in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that is now manifested in perpetrators of high-profile crimes being arrested within two to three days of their occurrence.
Secondly, the social crime prevention programme and the Force’s anti-crime patrol systems, as well as Government’s policy initiatives are developing the public trust and reducing the fear of crime in the Guyanese society, the Police Force said in one its most recent statements.
“Our partnership programmes with civil society organisations and our collaboration with local and foreign law-enforcement agencies have also served to strengthen the capacity of the Guyana Police Force. The continuous exposure of our ranks to training both locally and internationally has served to develop the Force’s ability to deliver at the frontline level, at management level and at leadership level,” the statement said.