Police ramp up security in city after US Embassy’s warning to citizens

A day after the US Embassy in Guyana issued a security warning to its staff and its citizens, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Wednesday morning conducted a walkabout of the Stabroek Market area to begin mapping out strategies for better policing in the capital city.

On Wednesday, the Police Force said that following the high-level meeting between the Mayor of Georgetown and hierarchy of the GPF yesterday, they have made moves to ramp up security in the Stabroek Market.
On March 14, the US Embassy issued a security warning regarding the Stabroek and Bourda Market areas in Georgetown. The embassy’s statement said, “The city of Georgetown is rated “critical” for crime. Incidents of robberies, sexual assault, vehicle accidents and homicides have occurred, particularly in high-risk areas after dark. U.S. mission personnel may not independently visit Stabroek Market. Furthermore, Mission personnel have been advised to use extreme caution when visiting Bourda Market during the day, and may not independently visit Bourda Market at night”.
One day later, the GPF issued a statement, noting that plans are “apace to bring safety to market thoroughfares in the city”.
It was noted that “both representatives of the two agencies, the M&CC and the GPF, in the company of other officers, commenced a strategy walkabout in the Stabroek Market area, and began to map out strategies for collaboration and policing in and around the public thoroughfares.”
The GPF has said it would immediately provide resources to the City Council to have a visible Police presence in the areas, and would continue further collaborative efforts to enhance public safety.
However, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn has said the GPF has been working on this initiative since November 2021 “without the fanfare”. According to him, the “US timing [is] coincidental”.

Just recently, at the Guyana Police Force’s Annual Police Officers’ Conference, the Home Affairs Minister noted that the work of the Police Force and its specialist agencies and related agencies is not an easy one.
However, he said he was pleased to announce that there was a reduction in serious crime around the country.
“We’re talking perhaps about 30% again reduction in serious crimes, and doing 20% in this year’s reduction, but we have to recognise that the work requires constant attention. It requires having a level of strength in relation to maintaining and improving our posture and, of course, the level of our performance with respect to the work that we do administratively and operationally,” Minister Benn has posited. (G9)