ACTING Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud,  in a recent address to the Tactical Services Unit (TSU),  reiterated that he sees no reason to adjust the conditions regarding the deployment of the newly-organised  Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

Commissioner Persaud said  he is aware of views expressed publicly about deployment of the unit and this indicates that persons in the know as well as others  are taking a swipe at the team.

According to him, the debates  do help the force as everything that is said in the public domain is usually reviewed.

“However, the debates actually help us in the long run, help to tell us that we are on the right path or we need to make adjustments. At this  time I see no reason to make any adjustment to the standard operating procedures (SOP) regarding the deployment of SWAT.”

TRAINING CONTINUITY
The Top cop made it clear that the unit will remain in training and there will be a continuation of targeted replenishing of the unit as people get older and as injuries take place since this is normal and likely to happen.

He said properly trained ranks will at all times replace ranks where the need arises since they will be trained by the unit itself. In addition they will be doing some levels of firearm and tactical training for other members of the force, particularly those who are involved in anti-crime patrols.

Seelall reminded that anti-crime patrols act  spontaneously a lot of the time  and there is limited intelligence  but their operations are largely based on what they observe  on patrol duty and therefore tactical training is absolutely necessary.

ELECTIONS READINESS
According to Persaud, the TSU  has been conducting its operations over the years but now with the introduction of the SWAT team the force is in a better position, even as the TSU has in the past looked at the preparedness for elections, which is normally a high profile event.

“It is very likely that we will see elections in the near future and therefore our readiness is the job of the Assistant Commissioner Operations (David Ramnarine) and he is ably assisted by Second in Command (Linden Alves) and Officer-in-Charge of TSU (Errol Watts).

On the issue of  whether the gear and equipment are appropriate at this time and if there needs to be adjustments to the standard operating procedures in dealing with the political climate, those would be addressed at the level of the Joint Services, the Top Cop added.

“This is normally addressed by the Joint Services, so at (that)  level… we normally would meet and have Senior Officers to do two things:  one is to address what has happened around the world and reconsider or consider the adjustment of  our SOPs and the other thing is for joint training; so having brain stormed and assessed  the needs for change, then there is joint training,” the Police Commissioner explained.

He added that this procedure has been ongoing for a long time now and is nothing new, pointing out that there are a lot of joint deployments between forces, particularly the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force. ---  By Leroy Smith