THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) is in the process of making arrangements to commence training of ranks, which will serve in a newly-formed aviation unit. This is of utmost importance, according to Minister of Public Security, Kemraj Ramjattan, who in his recent address to residents of Lethem, noted that the GPF has to prepare itself for the emerging oil and gas industry. He said that the aviation unit will be further developed with resources that will emerge from oil and gas sector and this unit will focus on tackling piracy, amongst other crimes that are associated with oil production.

“Of course that is recommended and we are in the process now of making the arrangements, as to training some of our policemen for that kind of thing,” he said. The GPF is currently depending on the Guyana Defence Force for assistance from its aviation wing and it was successful in tackling piracy in the Corentyne area, which saw a rapid decline. The GPF aviation unit will also address human trafficking, which has seen some level of reduction. Ramjattan described human trafficking as a very serious crime, since women and children are not only trafficked for sexual exploitation but labour exploitation as well.

He called on residents to play their part in tackling crime by speaking out. “We must have individual personal morality to know that we should not be doing this, and that we should be speaking out, far too few of us speak out and when we don’t speak out, things get worse,” he affirmed.

For this reason, the GPF is investing millions in its Citizens Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP), to train the citizenry to be law enforcers in their own way, by speaking out. US $15 Million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is being used on training programmes across Guyana. To date, Ramjattan said that 1,251 persons have been trained. The programme also includes the enhancing of the GPF assets such as the police stations, fire stations and prisons.

Ramjattan also spoke of the realignment of the police divisions, which will see each region being assigned as a division, so that the commanders would be resident in the district and have a better understanding of the crimes that are peculiar to every region. He reassured the residents of Lethem that the government is seeking to ensure the public security of its citizens and though they are constrained by finances, there is much work ongoing in this regard.