By Rabindra Rooplall

GUYANA’S youth population needs guidance in the right direction and they must understand that only work brings rewards, according to acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine.

“The youth population wants something and want it now, they are not being guided, they are not being supervised, they are not being taught in very strong ways that if you need something you need to work for it. You need to make the sacrifice to earn it, it is evident that young people want something and want it now and that is where the challenge lies,” he asserted.

PEER PRESSURE
Many youths find themselves suffering from negative peer pressure and a host of other circumstances that befall them, the acting police commissioner said, noting that “crime is basically a product of youth and masculinity, and that is to say the tendency to commit a crime reduces as one grows older. The current programme that we have is geared at capturing that very part, if you look at our prison population, the majority of persons are of a very tender age in incarceration for lengthy periods too.”

He observed that the traditional approach to solving crime, which was to arrest and prosecute, is no longer sufficient since it’s a social problem that needs to be addressed in that manner.

Emphasising that the Guyana Police Force is a microcosm of the wider society, Ramnarine said other support elements in society must have a special collaboration with the police.

He also noted that within the last two years since Commissioner Seelall Persaud took the mantle of leadership in the GPF; a social crime prevention programme was launched.

Alongside the community relations programme and the Cops and Faith community network , the commanders are forging ahead with building a relationship within the communities in all aspects of life.

“We are seeing appreciable returns in capturing young persons, making them stay away from a life of crime (and) we know down the road this will multiply. And this is one of the prevention aspects of policing,” Ramnarine asserted.