PSC calls out Govt over lack of progress of security reforms

…says more should be done to curb crime

While acknowledging the recent efforts of the Guyana Police Force, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) believes more should be done to curb the spate of violent crimes across the country.

Over recent weeks, there has been an alarming increase in crimes, particularly in Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) where several armed robberies ended in fatalities. The situation resulted in the Force’s SWAT unit being deployed to the region and some days later, three bandits were shot and killed during a standoff with the Police.
It is believed that the now dead men were behind daring robberies on the Corentyne over the past weeks. At the Johanna backdam in Black Bush Polder, where they were killed, Police found several weapons including an AR-15 rifle, which is suspected to have been used in a previous robbery where matching spent shells were found.
The PSC, in a statement on Wednesday, commended the most recent success of the Police in confronting the violent crime in Berbice and recognises the continuing efforts of the Police to meet this growing challenge threatening the safety and wellbeing of every citizen. However, the Commission nevertheless believes that much more can and should be done to meet this challenge.
“The Commission is convinced of the need for significantly greater human and financial resources being placed at the disposal of the Police Force… The Commission believes there is considerable room for enhancement in intelligence gathering and analysis than is currently in place,” the Commission said its missive.
According to the umbrella Private Sector body, its Governance and Security Committee met on Wednesday to address the increasing and widespread public concern over the manifestly “frightening and disturbing” incidents of violent crime across the country.
Coming out of that meeting, the Committee decided to request a joint meeting with Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan and Commissioner of Police Leslie James, to discuss the matter.
“The Commission believes that there is a much greater need for public confidence and trust in the Police Force… The Commission looks forward to a strong and uncompromising standard of leadership in our security forces,” it added.
Furthermore, the PSC went on to highlight its deep concerns over the “insufficient progress” being made with regards to the implementation of Security Sector Reforms.
At the Police Force’s Annual Officers’ Conference earlier this year, President David Granger had underscored the need to accelerate the implementation of security sector reforms, which he said will, among other things, restore public trust in the Force as well as correct any mismanagement of the country’s premiere law enforcement agency.
“Security sector is aimed to improving public trust and confidence. It means having a strong organisation and boosting the Force’s intelligence, investigative capabilities and producing more versatile Police Officers. The security sector therefore must be accelerated in 2019,” the Head of State had asserted.
At the same event in January, the Top Cop had revealed that they have engaged their counterparts in the United Kingdom and at the time, had already begun implementing three main pillars of the reforms – training, human resources management and infrastructure.
The US$4.7 million Security Sector Reform programme was initially launched in 2007 but was scrapped two years later after major disagreements between the then Administration and the United Kingdom Government over some of the conditions of the plan.
However, during a meeting with then British Prime Minister David Cameron back in 2016, President David Granger had requested that the multimillion-dollar security sector pact be revived.
As such, British security expert, Colonel Russel Combe, was brought in to conduct an assessment of the local security sector and compiled a report with steps to be taken to improve services.
While the report focuses primarily on reforms within the Guyana Police Force, there are also measures included to address issues plaguing the prisons and the fire services as well as the Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF’s) Coast Guard.
At the handing over of the report back in January, Combe had said the presentation of the report is not just the beginning or end of efforts to reform the local security sector.
“The report is dynamic; it’s not to represent just the beginning. Activities supported by the United Kingdom have already commenced: the training of (Police’s) Strategic Planning Unit last year and then in November there was consultancy on the marine capability of the Police Force and indeed engaged with the coast guards as well… So this is not the beginning, nor is it the end,” he had noted.
The UK expert had further stated that his Government does not want to see the report sitting on the shelf, gathering dust. In fact, he noted that the report was compiled in such a way that it can be broken up and separated into parts to be dealt with by different groupings.
Colonel Combe was expected to oversee the implementation of his recommendations until March 2019 when his tenure came to end. However, the progress of the implementation of the reforms is not clear.