…Acting Chief Constable

CHIEF Constable (Ag) Laurel Gittens has said that most of the criminal activities being recorded so far as the holiday season approaches are being committed by juveniles.
Speaking with this publication at City Hall on Monday, she said the constabulary met with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) lately, which provided certain statistics and where the authorities are heading with those.

“Most of the criminal activities are being committed by juveniles; young school-leavers. Some of them are well educated, but because they are unemployed they are finding illegal things to do,” she stated.

Gittens noted that the parents of these juveniles are in their 20s and early 30s, and hence find it a challenge to cope. “Having to deal with these teenagers is not an easy task, because of the opposition they put up. So as a paramilitary organisation and collaboration with the police force, we should have seminars to sensitise the parents of these children as to get them involved in vocational activities,” Gittens urged.

Substantive Chief Constable Andrew Foo, who proceeded on 42 days of vacation leave earlier this week, had said that a policing plan needs to be in place to deal with the security issues arising as a result of increased shopping during the Christmas season.

Foo said in a recent interview that one of the difficulties being experienced by the City Constabulary is that it has to work with limited resources.

Earlier this year, he reported that the constabulary is short of approximately 140 staff members and that efforts to recruit more workers were not bearing much fruit.
While the constabulary is expected to provide security throughout Georgetown, Foo said the lack of resources will mean that the officers will have to confine themselves to the main shopping areas for Christmas — Bourda and Stabroek Markets.

“We have a mandate to ensure that we establish a presence in the city. It is necessary that we have a policing plan to cover the entire city, but we are not able to do so. So we will ensure we confine ourselves to the commercial areas, Stabroek and Bourda. All of our resources are going to be deployed to the Stabroek and Bourda areas. Those are the areas that are heavy in terms of commercial activities, and therefore, it is necessary that we have a policing presence there,” Foo said.

Apart from uniformed officers, Foo said officers will also be at those locations in plain- clothes. The aim, he said, is to offer protection not just to the stallholders, but to shoppers as well.

The City Constabulary Department has responsibility for the prevention and detection of crime in Georgetown and has similar powers and privileges of the Guyana Police Force (GPF). It also has the authority to prosecute persons for offences such as assault, disorderly behaviour, urinating in public places, using indecent language, encumbering the pavements and so forth.

The department also provides security for municipal markets, day-care centres, koker pumps and City Hall buildings, among others. Providing security alone takes up much of the department’s resources.

The Enforcement Unit, which deals with itinerant vending and other breaches of the law, is also very small and short of its full complement of staff.