GUYANA’s Crime Chief, Deputy Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud said Friday that the biggest security concerns and threats from crime come from gangs operating in societies.

Addressing acting Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell and other senior officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) as that august body announced its Christmas security plan Persaud explained that so far the Force has been unable to muster evidence and information suggesting that gangs are operating in Guyana.
He also reported on patterns of serious crime; issues relating to criminal gangs; strategies and challenges; and previews on efforts of narcotics law enforcement officers to control crime.
Persaud explained that while there is evidence and intelligence from information gathered — organising logistics by putting them together prior to carrying out certain crimes — there is still no evidence that those persons who are involved in the execution of the robberies stick together to form a gang unit.
He said the interests of the persons who come together to carry out those acts are personal, and once the deed is done, they usually separate with no allegiance to each other. No doctrines and any other form of sub-cultural behaviours are followed.
Persaud said there are a few drug trafficking gangs which are of major interest to the Force, but they are not operational in Guyana. Those gangs are primarily involved in the trafficking of cocaine, and they use Guyana as a transhipment point for drugs destined for other countries.
He said there are a few groups which also focus on both cocaine and cannabis.
An issue which has long been a major concern for persons living in this country is the presence of foreign terrorists or criminals operating out of Guyana.
Persaud made it clear that for all its intelligence, the Guyana Police Force has failed to provide any evidence that ethnic and extremist gangs are present on these shores. Further, there has been no hard evidence to prove that gangs exist in the local education and school system.
Persaud said the Force, in particular the Special Branch, continuously engages the Welfare Department of the Education Ministry, and information is shared on developments in the school system.
He spoke of the work of the Crime Intelligence Unit and the Special Branch Unit which continually focuses on operations in school, and  explained that while there has been evidence that there are some amount of groupings involving young people, the Force is of the view that those groupings would expand and develop into gangs only if they are not addressed.
Persaud said the Force has a measure which it feels can assist in dismantling a gang in the making — working with relatives and parents of those young people who form those groupings. He described the approach as a positive form of handling that development.
The Guyana Police Force has been working with communities, organizing youth groups and clubs in those areas. Persaud said the Force realises that crime needs to be treated like a way of life, and attempts must be made to put systems in place to prevent crime.
He disclosed that the Force is working to change the thinking of some of the young people in those communities, and to ensure that they are gainfully occupied in an effort to change certain behaviours, and to ensure that their spare time is occupied in ways that will help them to think conventionally.
Also of interest to the Guyana Police Force is the issue of cross-border smuggling, which according to Persaud remains the biggest treat because of the infrastructure it provides to the drug traffickers and terrorists in their own networks, both in communication and in transportation.
Another issue highlighted was that of piracy, wherein it was mentioned that the incidents showed that fishermen were actually being robbed by their fellow fishermen in most cases.
Evidence and investigations have revealed that when it comes to the acts of piracy in Suriname waters, the fishermen who are victims of piracy are Guyanese, and the perpetrators are their fellow Guyanese who are involved in piracy.
He said local authorities have been collaborating with Surinamese authorities to provide intelligence and information to assist that country in its fight against piracy. Local authorities hope this would greatly assist in reducing the instances of piracy and bringing it under control.