| By Dale AndrewsWith the heat intensifying over his ministerial stewardship of the Guyana Police Force, Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, has read the riot act to the police, expressing dismay over the long list of unsolved serious crimes.Addressing officers at the just concluded annual Police Officers’ Conference, Rohee was particularly concerned about the growing number of unsolved execution type murders that remain on the records of the Guyana Police Force.“We have reached a stage where some members of the public and the press have tended to insinuate that the Force lacks the ability or will to solve these high profile cases. The Ministry of Home Affairs is far from happy with this state of affairs. The Force would have to review its current investigative capacity and take corrective action,” he told the Police Officers.One step recommended is the intensification of the training of detectives of the Guyana Police Force, Criminal Investigations Department for the long term benefits.Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee (right) and Police Commissioner (ag) Leroy Brumell share the head table at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary.But the Minister pointed out that because of the immediacy of the problem, more dedication must be shown by the investigators of the Force in bringing perpetrators to justice.Rohee’s consternation must have been fueled by murder statistics, which show a significant increase already this year, with 21 so far as against 18 for the same period in 2012, some 17 per cent more.Last year also saw an increase in the number of murders with 137, seven more than for the previous year, representing a five percent increase.Last year, there were nine execution-style murders all of which remain unsolved.This is in addition to the more than 400 unsolved murders over the past decade. In most of these cases, the police have linked them to the drug trade and there appears to be no effort to bring closure to them.According to the Home Affairs Minister, the inability of the CID to solve this large number of serious crimes is affecting public confidence in the Force.“This negative trend must be reversed,Cheap NFL Jerseys,” he demanded.Apart from murders, Rohee admitted that the number of robberies and crimes that are being committed in the country, especially with the use of firearms, is still relatively high.According to Police Commissioner (ag) Leroy Brumell, last year the Guyana Police Force recorded an increase of 21 per cent in robbery under arms when compared to the 2011 figures.He further explained that there was an increase of 16% in armed robberies involving the use of firearms and a 30 per cent increase in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms, such as knives, cutlasses and ice-picks.These figures did not impress the Home Affairs Minister who told the Police Officers that while it is acknowledged that the Force is continuing to seize illegal firearms from criminals and other persons, the increase in the level of gun related crimes need to be addressed more effectively.“The Force is tasked with the provision of better citizen security, therefore more dedicated efforts must be made to reduce the incidents of robberies and other crimes in the country,” he said.More use must be made of the images derived from the cameras that have been installed around the city as a tool in identifying suspects who have committed robberies within the view of the cameras, he stated.Soon the police will have the use of a state of the art forensic laboratory to assist them in solving most of the crimes that are now baffling them.Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs has conducted a review of the Crime Stoppers Programme that was operationalized in 2012 and which allows members of the Public to report crimes to the Police via the telephone.Rohee said that his Ministry is heartened by the responses so far from citizens and he called on the police to support the initiative.However, the concerns about confidentiality and trust will have to be adequately addressed for the programme to be meaningful.The police force is receiving further assistance in the form of an information technology link up for the entire Force through the Integrated Crime Information System (ICIS).Rohee said that with all these innovations there is the need for more education to be provided to Police Ranks about the benefits of these systems.Another innovation that is about to be launched by the Ministry is the “I Paid Bribe Project” which is aimed at helping the Force curb corruption within the country and in the Force itself.In defence of the Force, Commissioner (ag) Brumell said that within recent years, the police have been able to dismantle a number of criminal gangs.“And while presently no such gang has been identified, we continue to work through intelligence led policing to interdict those criminal elements involved in armed robberies, especially with illegal firearms brought into the country through our expansive borders, which pose some difficulty for law enforcement,” the Commissioner (ag) said. |
