–says Home Affairs Minister, charges new CPG executives to develop community profiles

ANYONE has a right to video/record the work of the police, whether good or bad, and, much as there are a few deviants within their fold, the majority of the members of the Guyana Police Force are men and women of integrity.

The foregoing sentiments were expressed by Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn on Saturday, during the Biennial Elections of the National Community Policing Executive at the Leonora Secondary School, in West Demerara.
And, speaking of integrity and how advantageous such a trait can be in fostering closer ties with the public, Minister Benn seized the opportunity to appeal to members of the various Community Policing Groups (CPGs) to help with the profiling of communities and intelligence gathering, activities that can contribute significantly to the prevention of murders, robberies, rapes and negative actions within various communities.

“Who got guns, who doing drugs, who interfering with little children, who beating up their women, and should be spoken to in the first instance. Police behaving bad, too; we need to know those things,” Minister Benn said, adding: “I have said to the police, and I have said it publicly, any individual has the right to videotape and record the actions of the police, whether good or bad.”

He reminded the CPG members that their volunteerism in their duties must be carried out professionally, and not in a personal capacity.
“We have to document the core morbidities of the Guyanese society; the core morbidities in the communities in which we live,” Minister Benn said, adding: “And for those who are drug addicts and got other problems, we will try to get them the psychological and other help they need.”

Noting that there are those for whom crime will always have a certain fascination, and will inevitably end up in certain places, because of the choices they make, Minister Benn said: “It’s a long and rugged road, and through intelligence and information, and the cooperation from the community, the CPGs, from the liaison officers, we need that information; that is actionable. Either by the police or by others, we need to have that.”

CLEANLINESS
Turning his attention to other equally intrinsic matters, Minister Benn reminded the Guyana Police Force that the lock-ups must be clean; that persons must not be sleeping on dirty cardboards, and using toilets without toilet paper.

“The lock-ups got to be better and clean, and there has to be bunk beds with sponges; we must treat our people better! As wicked and as bad as they are, they are still our people, and if they do things, they have to be dealt with properly, in the criminal justice system,” Minister Benn said, adding: “If we humiliate them; treat them like animals and beat them up, and kick them on the road, they will not get better. They will either be psychologically damaged, or they will come out as broken men; useless. Or they will come out with greater aggression, and will continue to do more bad things. So, we want to treat them better, which is the reason for works on the new prisons.”

Minister Benn also took to task those persons who are in the habit of fighting with police ranks and CPG members, noting that everyone should comply, in order to get the situation resolved as quickly as possible.
“That has to come along with greater integrity in the Police Force; taking bribes, and people coming to complain to me about all sorts of things… And I know the commanders got big trouble with these things, because I does write to them for them to send me a report,” he said, adding:

“Then the nice young policeman or woman get thrown out or thrown in jail for stupid things; corruption and extortion behaviour. “I don’t want the CPGs to get involved in those type of behaviours; to take advantage or make life harder or stressful for ordinary people.”

COMMUNITY SAFETY
He underscored that making the community safer, reducing crime, and making Guyana a safer place is the reason why the CPGs must be reconstituted nationwide. According to Benn, some of the main focus areas for the CPGs should be on what types of behaviours that make a community unsafe, “whether it is loud music, whether it is rowing and cussing on the road, whether it is the village ram goat or the old thief up to something, whether we men beating we wife, things like that are the core issues along with what is going on in drug dealing, in human trafficking now that we have migrants coming in and even for some of our own people.”

He continued: “The CPG, for me, is the buffer between the police and the community, it is a buffer to engage first in the level of the community and to consult and advise persons who may be errant in their ways, it is to mitigate efforts and activities which can escalate to the point where we have grief in the communities for perpetrators and victims.”
Minister Benn said the idea is to assist persons in the communities instead of them having to walk up the court step or into the prison walls.

Meanwhile, giving brief remarks on behalf was Region Three Commander, Senior Superintendent Errol Watts, who noted that the Guyana Police Force will continue to support all CPG members as crime preventions is everyone’s business.
Those elected to the National Community Executive are: Chairman Kishore Gobin, Vice Chairman N. Looknauth, Secretary Sunita Dhanraj, Treasurer Samad Bacchus, Assistant Treasurer Devika Hassan and Public Relations officer Krishna Seelall.