WHILE in the last few months the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) and Digicel have been working closer with the police on investigations, acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine believes that there is still room for much improvement between the two companies and the force.

Ramnarine expressed the sentiments when quizzed on the performance of the improved 911 emergency system at the Brickdam Police Station, Georgetown.
“We have made more progress in the new system,” Ramnarine told the Guyana Chronicle.
However, he said while the improvements have been vast, performance is yet to reach 100 per cent as is usually the case with new arrangements.

“I say so because when there is, let’s say a call made using whatever gadget to 911 and you have a clear indication that it is a threat to life and limb or property, or to cause public terror for example, it would be very , very important if all the players– and this includes the telephone service providers– would be on the same page immediately with the same interests and enthusiasm and unfortunately, that has not always been the case and when you wish that an investigation would take five days, it takes longer” Ramnarine told the Guyana Chronicle.

He explained that these hiccups arise due to some little imperfections in the system, which are currently being addressed by the two phone companies and the administration of the Guyana Police Force.

As it is now, the chief executive officers of the companies are in constant contact with the Guyana Police Force. The contact person at the level of the force is Crime Chief Paul Williams.

Ramnarine said overall, improvements and progress have been made and the three concerned parties are somewhat happy with the improvements thus far as it relates to the operations of the 911 emergency numbers.

“I would want to say that we have improved the level of communication between the two phone companies and we are now in contact with them, since the establishment of the new arrangement things have been working a bit better,” said the top cop.
Aside from the 911 emergency system, Ramnarine said acquisition of the vehicles from the Government of China has resulted in vast improvements in the delivery of services of the Guyana Police Force in every division.

“I am pleased with the patrolling duties and there have been improvements in response time, visibility and prevention,” Ramnarine explained.

He said when it comes to the Police ‘A’ and ‘B’ Divisions, the Guyana Police Force has seen tremendous reduction in serious crimes and that has a lot to do with the leaderships in those divisions who have been re-strategising, retooling, regrouping and have placed a lot of attention on hot spot management.

He further stated that while there has been an increase in manpower, there has also been an increase in non-human resources, which has been very good.