By Alisa Lashley

MILLIONS have been allocated to upgrade several police stations that will be used as the headquarters of the new regional police divisions, Director General within the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon has said.

He made the disclosure during a post-cabinet news briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency on Thursday. He, at the time, was briefing the media on a number of contracts awarded by the various procurement agencies. The contracts include the rehabilitation and upgrading of divisional headquarters in Regions One, Two, Three, Four and Five, with (Region Four) hosting three of such divisions in Agricola to Cummings Lodge, Eccles to Moblissa on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway and Industry, East Coast Demerara to west of the Mahaica Bridge. Harmon said this will therefore allow every administrative region to be in a division in the Guyana Police Force. It will also enable the newly-elected regional and appointed deputy commanders to be physically present in their regions of elect, with adequate accommodations that will allow them to “function effectively,” according to Mr. Harmon.

The aforementioned contracts will see the rehabilitation to the divisional headquarters under the Ministry of Public Security in Mabaruma (Region One) for the allocated amount of $208,571,685; Anna Regina( Region Two) for the amount of $215,189,400; the reconstruction of the Leonora Police Station (Region Three) amounting to of $72,732,088; the construction of the divisional headquarters at Diamond (Region Four) for the allocated amount of $199,838,860; the rehabilitation of the Cove and John Police Station (Region Four) for the amount of $47,476,020 and the construction of a divisional headquarter at Fort Wellington (Region Five) amounting to $201,715,800.

The introduction of regional police divisions is one of the new policy decisions undertaken by His Excellency, President David Granger. He previously described the changes as necessary to ensure that the GPF executes its duties to the best of its abilities in every region. “I’ve tried to erect a new architecture, appointing a new commissioner, deputy commissioners and ensure that certain reforms are put in place… The police’s divisional structure has been modified to coincide with the administrative structure so that the types of crimes that we saw occurring in the hinterland – interpersonal violence, illegal migration, mining, and pollution of our rivers – fell under one police division… We now have four police divisions which are responsible for enforcing the law in those areas,” President Granger told journalist, Gordon Moseley, recently. He reminded them that Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine previously comprised a single division. The Police Division in Region One (Barima-Waini) is now headed by Senior Superintendent, Wendell Blanhum. He was the Officer-in-Charge of sub-division three in the ‘F’ Division (interior locations). In Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Acting Commander of the former ‘G’ Division (Essequibo Coast and Islands), is Superintendent Crystal Robinson. In Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Commander of the ‘D’ Division (West Bank Demerara-East Bank Essequibo), is Senior Superintendent Linden Lord.

Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), due to its large populace, is divided into three sub-divisions; Georgetown, East Bank Demerara, and East Coast Demerara. Assistant Commissioner and Commander Marlon Chapman, former ‘A’ Division head (Georgetown-East Bank Demerara), is responsible for the capital city. Head of the Police Narcotics Branch, Senior Superintendent Kurleigh Simon is in charge of the East Bank Demerara corridor. Assistant Commissioner Royston Andries-Junor will be in charge of the East Coast Demerara corridor. In Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Superintendent Yonette Stephens is the new commander. Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) is headed by Senior Superintendent, Calvin Brutus. Regions Five and Six had originally comprised the ‘B’ Division (Berbice) and was headed by former, now retired, Commander Paul Langevine.
Assistant Commissioner Kevin Adonis, who served as the previous commander for the dissolved ‘F’ Division (interior locations) which comprised of Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine, now commands Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). Former ‘A’ Division Deputy Officer in Charge of Traffic, Superintendent Ramesh Ashram, is now responsible for Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni). Superintendent Ashram also acted a Commander of ‘E’ Division (Linden-Kwakwani) for a short period. Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) is commanded by Superintendent Keithon King and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), by Superintendent Courtland Winter, the prior Superintendent of the Court.