Govt has no crime-fighting strategy – Opposition Leader

…as concerns mount over hike in crime

As there continues to be mounting public concern over the increasing spate of crime in Guyana, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has flagged the David Granger-led administration for failing to address the country’s crime situation.
“Whilst crime is ravaging the country, [President Granger] has not outlined any measures to arrest this situation,” Jagdeo said at his weekly press conference on Thursday.

He was at the time responding to comments made by the Head of State on crime fighting during a recent interview on the “Inside Sources” podcast.
According to the Opposition Leader, President Granger touted the Security Sector Reform Report received from British Consultants and the appointment of four Deputy Commissioners of Police that were not there before.
“This is another evidence of him being aloof,” Jagdeo contended.
Weeks after getting into office in 2015, President Granger had summoned his top security officials and laid out a five-point action plan that the security sector would use to battle the crime wave, which at that time, had been rising at an alarming rate. The plan, however, was more of a strategic nature than immediate actions to address the crime wave.

Since then, despite insisting that the crime rate has reduced, the coalition administration had come under heavy criticism for failing effectively tackle the situation.
In fact, when asked during the recent podcast why dealing with crime situation is proving to be difficult when his government is comprised of some former top security officials, including himself being a member of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), President Granger posited there is not a single crime problem but various facets.
“The crime situation is not as bad as people make it out to be… But the one [facet] that catches the public’s attention easily and quickly is interpersonal violence,” he stated, adding that they are aware of the issues and are working on tackling them.

However, according to the Head of State, dealing with interpersonal crimes requires different types of tools – something which the Police may not have. He said that while a lot of training of law enforcement officials are conducted – and more needs to be conducted – there is still need to examine the culture of young people, adding too that civil society, particularly the religious organisations, have to be encouraged to discuss these issues with members.
“It is not an ethnic problem, it is not a geographical problem – it is widespread. It occurs at various strata of society because sometimes rich people might pay somebody to kill their wife or husband. (Interpersonal crimes) are not always the result of poverty”.
On this note, the President cited unemployment as another deterrent to the fight against crime, something, he says, his administration is hoping to alleviate with better job opportunities and better training through the youth corps and other programmes designed for young people.
“So we hope that economic incentives and a stronger economic platform would allow more young people to enter the world of work and not the world of crime,” Granger stated.
However, even as the Head of State talks up crime fighting strategies in an effort to regain the public’s confidence for more time to address the situation, his Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan recently shied away from taking responsibility for crime fighting and instead contended that the public has to secure itself and be more alert.
From the Police’s end, Ramjattan noted that they have to beef up patrols.
“It requires lots more patrols by our Policemen. It requires members of the public being alert. They have to be far more alert. And take a look at the back and find out who’s following them. If they go out, try to go out in groups. That’s what the Police will generally tell you. And that’s what is needed to secure yourself,” he said.
The Public Security Minister also made mention of the recent Police operation, where touts and members of bicycle gangs were arrested in the vicinity of Stabroek Market. He noted that many of them were arrested either through tips from members of the public or by facial recognition from the Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) cameras set up around the city.
“We are going to, in a way, beef up the Police patrols all over the place. We have utilised our video cameras at the command centre at Liliendaal to check on a number of these bicycle and motorcycle guys, for a period of days and then we went in and, having identified them, ensured that we arrested them, and arrests have been made, about 39”.
“So we’re getting the information through the video cameras. And persons have been calling in to say who and who, at the Stabroek Market, have been doing their mischief and we have been arresting them,” Ramjattan said.

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