— Assistant Superintendent Troy Whittaker

OFFICER-IN-CHARGE of crime in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Assistant Superintendent Troy Whittaker, is optimistic that members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) have what it takes to crack hard-to-solve murder cases.

He told the media as much on Monday, saying that the reason he had come to that conclusion was because they had been successfully able to solve close to 90 per cent of the murders that had been, this year, committed in Region Three.

The latest success story, he said, was the murder of 20-year-old Alex Morgow, a fisherman of Parika Backdam, whose own sister, 31-year-old Lashena Morgow, has been arrested for committing the act.

According to Whittaker, members of the Force were able to identify the woman as a suspect, retrieve the murder weapon, and determine a motive in less than 24 hours.
“The young lady who is the sister,” Whittaker said, “We have that person in custody, along with the murder weapon [which] was retrieved. The matter is likely for court Wednesday morning. This matter has been dealt with so quickly by our ranks, like many of our other cases. So we are proud of the way we are operating.”
He further told this publication that the major contributor to the murders in the region was intoxication. He explained that, in most of the murders recorded, the common factor involved the accused being under the influence of alcohol.

The senior police official informed that the bars that have been operating despite the COVID-19 pandemic is a major contributor.
“Most of these rum shops that contribute to these murders are what we would term illegal rum shops or bottom house rum shops; they are no longer operating from the front. They are working from way down at the back of Parika and all those desolate areas. We found that most of these murders occurred late in the night or very early in the morning, like they went out and they drink and they remember they had some old grievance and they pick a fight and that is it,” Whittaker explained.

He stated that some very stringent measures have been put in place to deal with all rum shops that are in operation.
According to the COVID-19 Emergency Measures (No. 8) restrictions have been placed on the operation of night clubs and other pubs/entertainment spots, particularly those which have indoor operations.

Whittaker later said that he believed the ranks have a significant level of control over the other types of crimes in the region.
He stated that the level of robberies had decreased drastically in recent months. He related that it was noticed that many of the robberies that occur within the region were committed by persons travelling from Region Four by way of the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling.

Whittaker informed that several systems are in place to allow ranks to identify persons who are involved in this type of criminal activity.