“Start looking at your personal security” – Commander advises for Christmas season

With the busy Christmas season just around the corner, Commander of Division 4A (Georgetown), Assistant Commissioner Simon McBean is calling on all Guyanese to keep aware of their surroundings and strengthen their personal security.
Commissioner McBean made these remarks during an interview on Thursday.
“I want to start putting it into people’s minds to assist us into policing yourselves. Start looking at your personal security, ensure your homes are properly secured, ensure when you’re going out, you’re conscious of your environment and add that extra layer of security for yourself,” McBean said.
He added that the Police Force will begin rolling out Christmas policing next month, which refers to the increased prevalence of ranks on the road.
McBean stressed the need for policing to be a collaborative effort, noting that it requires partnership with the community and other agencies to be successful.
On that note, he relayed that a Community Fun Day will be held on October 28 to engage a number of residents beyond a formal level.
“We realise that the Police and the community do now know each other outside of their formal arrangement in the sense of a Police and a civilian, so we are trying to break that barrier,” McBean said.
“As a result, we have planned a Fun Day where we will engage all our communities that we’re working with, which [includes] Albouystown, Tiger Bay, Leopold Street, East Agricola and we’re going into Sophia,” McBean added.
Through this initiative, the Police and community members will socialise through a series of activities including cricket, football and cook-up competitions and a grand stage show slated to involve a number of local artistes for entertainment.
“We’ll have a day of fun where we’ll be competing against each other and we’ll have a chance to intermingle [and get to] know each other outside of our regular day-to-day jobs,” McBean said.

Training
Commissioner McBean noted that the Police Force is continuously engaging in efforts to train its ranks to better tackle cybercrimes and cases of domestic violence, particularly.
“Cybercrimes is one of our crimes that has taken prominence lately and we’ve seen a lot of reports coming in and we’re able to respond. Our ranks are trained and we’re doing more training in that area to ensure we’re up to speed with the requirements,” McBean said.
Meanwhile, he noted that the Force has created safe spaces in their stations to interview persons reporting instances of domestic abuse.
“Domestic violence is an area that’s a focus for us and over the years, the Police Force has invested a lot along with our partners in training for our officers in dealing with domestic violence,” McBean said.
“We’re continuing to establish ourselves as it relates to responding to domestic violence,” McBean said, adding that the Force relies heavily on partners such as the Human Services and Social Security Ministry for assistance in providing the services civilians may need.