…US$723,000 being spent to improve analytical capacity
…six more police stations to undergo massive rehabilitation under Citizen Security programme

APPROXIMATELY US$1.2M has been earmarked, through the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP), to rehabilitate six more police stations across the country, while well over US$723,000 is being expended to address the deficiencies within the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory that bars it from doing DNA testing among other things.

In an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday, the CSSP Project Manager, Dr. Clement Henry explained that the Forensic Science Laboratory is undergoing rehabilitation to improve its analytical capability.

POOR WIRING
“So we have to improve the air quality system in the lab, and that’s an ongoing

programme. We have to improve the electronic security but the biggest challenge we have is the electrical system in the lab,” Dr. Henry told this newspaper. According to him, the poor electrical system installed when the lab was constructed remains the biggest “headache” to date.

The Forensic Lab, commissioned at a cost of $1.049B in July 2014 at Turkeyen, was intended to enhance the investigative capacity of the Guyana Police Force but since then it has been plagued with a number of problems including the poor electrical system. “When we started working with the lab, we found that electricity was not coming to the lab. There was no standardisation of the output. Some of the fuses were not working which are normally used for protection… The power coming in, there are a number of challenges in terms of the circuit breakers,” Dr. Henry explained.

He said, though this component of the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme, which focuses on strengthening the Guyana Police Force’s crime prevention and investigation capacity, had not catered for the electrical system, close to $16M has already been spent to rectify the string of problems affecting the electrical system at the lab.

DNA SOON
Added to that, approximately US$240,000 is being expended to improve the air quality at the billion-dollar facility. Another US$483,000 has been set aside for the purchasing and installation of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) testing equipment. According to Dr. Henry, a supplier has been identified. “We are now working with the supplier for the DNA equipment… the challenge would have been the payment arrangement,” he said, while noting that the contract has since been restructured. It was noted that the equipment needed to conduct gun residue testing is already at the lab.

According to Dr. Henry, the current challenges have slowed down many major projects at the lab, but it anticipated that these deficiencies and challenges would be addressed by the end of the year.

Simultaneously, Dr. Henry, through the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme, has been working closely with the Ministry of Public Security and the Guyana Police Force to improve the conditions under which police work.

Since the launch of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) funded programme in

2016, 10 police stations have undergone massive upgrades and two new police stations were built; one in Linden, Region 10, and one at Aurora in Region Two, at total cost of US$1.8M. The police stations at Mibicuri in Region Six, Mabaruma in Region One, Issano in Region Seven, Port Kaituma in Region One, Annai and Aishalton in Region Nine, La Grange in Region Three, Cane Grove in Region Four, Suddie in Region Two and Kwakwani in Region 10, were those that underwent rehabilitation.

Dr. Henry disclosed that another six police stations will undergo rehabilitation from July, 2019 at a cost of US$1.2M. “So we have actually completed those 12 stations. We are now turning our attention to a further six because we hope to enhance the physical infrastructure of 18 police stations under the project,” he posited.

It was noted that designs for the six police stations are being done. The police stations that would benefit from the US$1.2M are located in Wismar, Linden (Region 10), Albion and Whim in Region Six; Parika (Region Three), Mahdia in Region Eight and Baramita in Region One.

The project manager said the selected police stations are in dire need of repairs. It is believed that improvements in the physical environment will create a more conducive environment that would motivate the police officers to work.

Added to that, through the CSSP, the capacity of the law enforcers are being built, and their relation with the public improved. Dr. Henry explained that when the Guyana Police Force was taken into consideration, it was thoroughly assessed by a consultant that not only put forward 90 recommendations, but also devised two plans in which those recommendations can be implemented.

“So we had a consultant group on board, who did the diagnostics (and) they made recommendations, and they developed two plans – a Human Resource Management Plan and a Performance Assessment Framework for the Guyana Police Force – these two plans covered over 90 recommendations for the force,” Dr. Henry explained.

Training for implementation of the two plans were conducted by the consultancy firm and covered areas such as audit and inspection, public relations, occupational health and safety, human resource management, and tactical tasking and coordination among others.
Coming out of the recommendations, over 100 police officers were trained in Police Community Engagement – among them, trainers to sustain the training programme. Dr. Henry and the Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, have fully embraced this element which has increased police interaction with the public.

“To support this training, we are now working on finalising procurement for training and developing a Domestic Violence Scenario Response,” he added, noting that a manual will be developed outlining clear Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and an Interagency Protocol that would guide the process when treating with cases of domestic violence.
Additionally, a Police Reform Change Board (PRCB), which is chaired by Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan and co-chaired by the Police Commissioner, was birthed out of the programme in February. It is intended to synchronise financial and technical support being given to the Guyana Police Force.

It is believed that these initiatives will build a stronger police force and a better relationship with the public. “When you raise the standard of policing, the police are going to work harder; they are going to solve more crimes. Criminals will be intimidated, because the certainty of punishment will act as a deterrent to people being involved in crime,” Dr. Henry said.

The entire CSSP initiative, which includes two other components – strengthening of the Guyana Prison Service rehabilitation and social reintegration services, and community crime and violence prevention – total US$15M. Of the US$15M, Guyana Police Force crime prevention and investigation capacity component has been allocated US$7.5M.