A team from Barbados has been contracted to install the equipment to facilitate the smooth running of the forensic laboratory which is expected to come into operation before year-end.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee explained that the imported equipment had to be calibrated on arrival in Guyana before being installed. “The security features have been already installed and by the third week in October, all the installation will be completed with respect to equipment which will see the facility being in full operation,” he added.
The Home Affairs Ministry has already hired staff and will soon sign their contacts for employment.
He said the Office of the President has requested that the lab be equipped to facilitate DNA testing.
“What we have decided to do is to complete what we have set out to do in accordance with the plan for the completion of the lab because we don’t want to delay further commissioning of the facility… upon completion, we will look at ways and means of incorporating in the functioning of the lab, DNA testing.”
The contract for the Gy$ 840 million Police Forensic Lab falls under the Citizen Security Programme (CSP) initiated by the government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
This programme has three components: institutional modernisation of the Home Affairs Ministry, Community Action Component (CAC) and modernisation of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), which includes the strengthening of forensic capability.
The facility, when equipped, will be the best in the Caribbean and among the best in the world.
Former Police Commissioner Henry Greene had said the fight against crime cannot only be tackled with help of the public alone, but also needs the support of forensic science.
