Govt. targets community police groups to control illegals in border areas

The official launch of the reconstituted National Community Policing of Guyana was yesterday held at the Police Officers’ Training Centre, Eve Leary, Police Headquarters, Georgetown.
According to the Police Force, “Community Policing is a philosophy and an organisational strategy that promotes partnership between the people of the community and the police. It is based on the premise that both the police and the community must work together to identify, prioritise and solve contemporary problems such as crime, drugs, fear of crimes, social problems and other forms of disorder to improve the quality of life in the community.”

The constituting of the body is aimed at making the Community Policing Groups essential in crime prevention and crime-fighting machineries across Guyana.
On March 11, 1976, CPG was implemented and to date, there are in excess of 144 active groups, along with Scouts Groups in the different regions in Guyana.
New groups will be started in Kaikan, South and North Rupununi, and Kwakwani, due to an influx of non-nationals in the areas.

Delivering the feature address yesterday was Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, who provided startling statistics on the upsurge of crimes between 2019 to present – 37% increase in murders, 28% in robbery under arms cases and 27% in robbery with aggravation.
He said that the revamping of the groups is designed to assist the police in crime fighting and to better meet the expectations of all citizens.

Present also were the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson, Jr.; Commissioner of Police, Nigel Hoppie; Assistant Commissioner, ‘Operations’, Clifton Hicken; Permanent Secretary, Mae Toussaint; Director of Prisons, Mr. Gladwin Samuels, Fire Chief, Marlon Gentle and Ministerial Advisor on Security, Harry Gill.