Caribbean in ‘catch-up mode’ on crime laws – Benn tells regional police chiefs

…as Guyana leads with $9b policing upgrade

Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn has highlighted that significant investments are also being made to improve the physical infrastructure of policing countrywide.
Benn was at the time speaking during the opening ceremony of the 39th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) on Monday.
“In Guyana, the Government has made steady progress in rebuilding and modernising the police infrastructure and replacing decrepit physical, mobile, and marine assets. We have expended over $9 billion on 72 capital projects over the last few years.”
Shifting his perspective to the legislative landscape across the Caribbean, Benn highlighted how many countries across the region are still in a ‘catch-up mode’, insinuating that they are far behind.

“Legislatively, many of us are in a catch-up mode. We are at persistent new lows on issues of the illegal transiting of narcotics, guns, money laundering, people trafficking, smuggling, and the effects of mass migration. These issues are externally caused and driven. We are not the marketplaces for drugs. We don’t make guns, but we suffer from the fallout and repercussions of several of these challenges. New active threats have emerged in the form of cyber and financial crimes and terrorism.”
Stating that the region must not rely on victimhood but rather fight back against all of the challenges faced, he said:
“Insidious criminal actors, political rejects, and presumed influencers are determined to use any negative circumstance to their advantage to make capital and to advance agendas which do not serve the common good. While we are, again, victims, we cannot rely on or wallow in victimhood, but we must continue with a whole-of-Government and societal approach to security challenges. We are fighting back.”
He stated, “I posit though, that it is an ennobling task, bigger than the individual parts and whole of the police forces themselves, and this is the reason why we, who represent the people who, in spite of all the odds, must be enabled to achieve a better and prosperous future, we say thank you for your service.”
On Monday as security officials from across the Caribbean gather in Guyana for a five-day conference on enhancing regional policing, President Dr Irfaan Ali, unveiled a 7-point plan aimed at strengthening collaboration and resource-sharing to tackle common criminal issues. President Ali’s plan focuses on several key areas: Human Capital Development, Infrastructure Enhancement, Advanced Training Programmes, Technology Development, among others.