Crime-fighting officers undergo crime mapping training

The Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP) in collaboration with the Inter American Development Bank on Thursday opened a two-day training session in the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology for crime mapping.

The training is being done at the Guyana Police Forces Training Centre, Camp Street, Georgetown, and will deal specifically with the Geographic Information System which is a useful technology and science which allows persons to understand where criminal activities are being perpetuated and conduct predictable analysis to understand the strengths and hotspots.
Valerie Grant, GIS consultant for the CSSP project, related that GIS also allows a person to look at historic and recent information so that they can do strategic analysis.
She stated that within the next three months, ranks will be using these new skills along with the necessary infrastructure in terms of hardware and software in their crime-fighting strategies.
Grant posited that this will ensure that data is moved within departments swiftly and alluded to the capacity building which ensures the right people are in the right places.
This programme serves as a pilot and will be rolled out in other regions later in the year.
Dr Clement Henry, Project Manager of the CSSP, highlighted that all CSSP’s activities’ basic goal is to reduce crime and violence across the country and this initiative will take them a step further in achieving this.
Dr Henry iterated that it was always the intention of CSSP to maximise the use of technology in their crime-fighting mechanism.
He added that this initiative will play a key role in the use of technology in improving the type of analysis in the development of strategies and policies in crime prevention.
Further, IDB’s Representative, Dr Jason Wilks said his institution is commitment to State enhancement and lauded the Government’s effort in introducing the use of technology in its Citizen Security Strengthening Programme.
He said the IDB and other stakeholders including the United Nations Development Programme are committed to supporting what is already being done in Guyana in this regard.
He pointed out that the IDB even as they provide the technical assistance and resource funding for the development of institutions and the acquisition of software and hardware; training and capacity building is vital in ensuring the resources obtained will be put to full use in crime-fighting.
He urged the officers to make full use of the training as the knowledge gained will not become outdated but will remain with them in years to come.
Meanwhile, Superintendent Shivpersaud Bacchus expressed gratitude for the much-needed training as it will help to enhance the Forces’ capabilities against the difficulties it may experience daily as they execute analytical work in solving and preventing crime.