President promises full support to Police Force in reducing crime

President David Granger on Tuesday announced a contribution of Gy$2 million to the Guyana Police Force (GPF). The money will be divided equally between the Force’s Fallen Heroes Foundation and its scholarship fund.

The President, who himself benefited from a GPF scholarship to attend Queen’s College, made these announcements at the Force’s Christmas Breakfast at the Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown. The breakfast was hosted by Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud.

President Granger also used the opportunity to declare that while the Force has faced significant challenges, adding that it has ‘turned the corner’ and Government will continue to ensure that adequate resources are provided to ensure the security and safety of Guyana.

“I would like to say, without hesitation, that the Police Force has faced tremendous challenges but right now, on December 15 as we look back, I would say that the Police Force has overcome the most severe challenges,” he said.

The Head of State noted that the formation of the National Security Council has been instrumental in ensuring that the Administration is heavily involved in supporting and working with the GPF to ensure that the crime situation in the country is addressed.

The Head of State’s comments come just one day after the Police admitted serious crimes have increased by nine per cent.

Meanwhile, the President has noted that Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan is now obliged to report to Cabinet on the state of the Police Force on a weekly basis.

The President also said that the Police Force will be given the resources it needs to enable it to make Guyana safe. He added that Government is working to have the Security Sector Reform Plan, offered by the British Government back on the table. “We have great plans for Guyana but those plans will not bear fruit unless Guyana is a safe place and the Police Force is central to the safety of our citizens and the security of our nation”, the Head of State said.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Persaud, in his remarks to the gathering said that the new Administration has created “a lot of hope” in the GPF.

“I wish to say today that we are very motivated. Our investments in capacity building, particularly this year, have been paying dividends. We see the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and crime intelligence working together and [they] have been adequately addressing a lot of the high profile crimes that we see in our streets,” he said.

The Commissioner added that Operation DRAGNET, which was launched on December 1, is already demonstrating some amount of success but did not divulge statistics on the success.