“We have to act together and you might help” – Min. Ramjattan on fighting crime

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, August 8, 2018

At the ninety-sixth sitting of the National Assembly held today, Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, during his rebuttal of a motion on crime tabled by the Opposition and the need for the government to do more, reiterated that there has been an overall decline on those reported incidents.

The minister reminded members of the House that these are official Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) statistics. Minister Ramjattan cited serious crime reports which declined from 2014 to 2017.

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan

The Public Security Minister noted that while there are still incidents of criminal activity, more resources and training for ranks are having an effect as more crimes are being solved. He noted too that many external factors are at play when considering the figures, citing examples of domestic disputes that have ended tragically. The minister noted that more than the enforcement of the law needs to be done. He also noted that many grievances are not being resolved by village elders or even religious leaders in these communities and perhaps more could be done in this regard.

“It is absolutely not true that there has not been collaboration; that there is not widespread collaboration between all law enforcement agencies”, Minister Ramjattan said in response to claims by the opposition that this was halted by the government. He reminded of the national security meetings which are conducted weekly with agency heads where issues are discussed and solutions put forward. The contributions of community policing groups and the contributions of other stakeholders were also highlighted by the minister who added, “we are civilianising the police force.”

“What magnifies it”, Minister Ramjattan said, are media reports with photographs, sensational headlines and gory details. The Cari-Secure Project was one initiative, which he noted will be extended to all police stations to ensure accurate statistics on crime to give a holistic picture of what is actually occurring. The GYD $839.6Million ($4 US Million) project with the help of Estonian experts will help to deal with this issue, stressing the importance that a false picture is not painted of Guyana so as to dissuade potential visitors. The government will work and collaborate with international stakeholders, and not “ferally blast them” he further added. He alluded to the fact that efforts to combat trafficking in persons are also showing results with Guyana’s improved ranking internationally.

The reviewing of training programmes for recruits, specialists and others is underway and the security sector reform programme’s initiatives are all beginning to show results. Raids, high visibility patrols, continuing education, youth initiatives, open source monitoring of social and print media, improved facilities at police stations such as solar power units’ installation, are among the moves being used to fight crime successfully, the Public Security Minister disclosed.

By: Paul McAdam

Images: Department of Public Information

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