THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) has upped its capacity to promote “proper road usage” with the calibration and certification of some of its speed guns during a two-day exercise facilitated by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS).

Traffic Chief, Senior Superintendent Ramesh Ashram, indicated that this initiative will help to boost the force’s ability to prosecute road users in breach of the country’s speed limits.

The GNBS, on Wednesday, at the CMR&SC, South Dakota Circuit, conducted roadside testing of the GPF speed guns utilizing its new Multi-Radar Compact Device (MRCD) to ascertain the accuracy of the devices.

“This will enable us to have [a] better chance at prosecutions; so if a driver wants to contest a matter in court, because you would find some drivers would want to contest the ticket and say that the speed that the police show them is not the speed they were going at and when you get to the court there is a requirement that your speed guns are certified and the force would have to prove that and now, we can,” Superintendent Ashram stated.
During the exercise, the GNBS calibrated and certified the accuracy of five speed guns.

Ashram noted that the Force is currently in possession of 20 guns and is aiming to have the remaining 15 devices certified within a few months.
He further noted that for the year 2021, the GPF has trained 239 ranks in the use of the speed guns, breathalyzers, and tintometer instruments.

Meanwhile, Executive Director (ag) of GNBS, Ramrattie Karan, noted that the bureau has spent $11 million on the exercise which included the purchase of the new MRCD instrument that was used to calibrate the GPF speed guns, and the training sessions which were facilitated by Solutions Architect Manager of JENOPTIK, Corlan McDonald.

Karan noted that the GNBS’s decision to purchase the equipment comes on the heels of numerous complaints from road users about accuracy of the speed guns used by the traffic ranks.

She clarified that the GNBS certification is not a confirmation that the devices are not working properly.
“Allow me to point out that we are not implying that the devices used by the GPF are not accurate… when they were purchased by the police force those devices came with a calibration certificate and they have a validity date that is still valid, but we will be working with the force when those dates are nearing an end to ensure accuracy is maintained,” she said.

She added that speed guns are expected to be recalibrated and certified every six months by the GNBS.

Further, she noted that it is extremely important to determine the accuracy of measuring devices in promoting and preserving the credibility of any agency utilizing some unit of measurement when dealing with the general public.