THE Ministry of Home Affairs, responding to a Guyana Times July 22 article, captioned ‘Liaison Officers in ‘C’ Division are not doing their job’, said it is very concerned about the misleading information being peddled against that group. The ministry said no money is allocated to Community Policing Groups (CPGs), which are voluntary groupings.
The Government of Guyana, through the ministry, provides money for the purchase of vehicles, equipment, uniforms etc, the response pointed out.
The ministry said CPGs are encouraged to hold fund-raising activities so as to contribute to the maintenance of vehicles, purchasing of fuel and their day-to-day operations.
A CPG is a voluntary organisation and it has been always that way and there is the need to remember that the Auditor General’s Report covers revenues allotted to the CPGs.
The ministry said it is fully committed to the contribution the CPGs are making to fighting crime in the various communities and encourages the formation of 1000, with a membership of 200,000 volunteers, rather than ten of them.
The statement added that liaison officers are employees of the ministry who are paid a monthly salary of $68,854 and asked: “Is this handsome?”
The ministry observed that, on one hand, the ‘Ghost Writer’ stated that liaison officers are not doing anything, yet on the other hand, advised that they are ‘visiting communities.’
The ministry suggested that  the ‘Ghost Writer’ should find himself in a CPG and participate, by making a positive contribution to the growth and development of the system.
 
Being supervised
It reiterated that liaison officers are being supervised at the Ministry by the Administrator of the Community Policing Organisation and are required to:
* form CPGs in traditional and non-traditional
areas and resuscitate dormant ones;
*draw up regular work programmes that are
assessed at the ministry, after which a
determination is made on whether any
financial assistance should be provided, as
that is not automatic;
*to provide a closer link between the
communities within the various regions, the
CPG, the ministry and the Guyana Police Force
(GPF);
*to coordinate and submit reports to the Ministry of
Home Affairs on group development training
programmes, fund-raising activities by groups and
Divisions’ community services, group and
divisional meetings attended;
*activities for youth and women groups;  
*use and misuse of stores, equipment and  
vehicles issued to groups, care and custody,
complaints, formation and resuscitation of
groups, irregularities, patrols done by
members of the CPGs and gathering and    
passing information on unlawful activities
within the various communities.