Police forensic lab may be ready by year-end – Rohee
April 23, 2010 | By KNews | Filed Under News
Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, hopes that the much-touted police forensic laboratory will be completed by year-end or mid next year.
Rohee made this disclosure to journalists yesterday while conceding the need for police to present more forensic evidence in court to strengthen their cases.
“As Minister of Home Affairs, yes,” Rohee said, when asked about the need for investigators to back up their cases with forensic evidence.
“It is precisely for this reason that under the Citizens’ Security Programme we are constructing a forensic laboratory in the UG compound to upgrade the forensic facilities of the Guyana Police Force.
“As you can see the pace with which the Central Intelligence building has gone up…we are not fooling around.”
Some $473 million has been set aside for the construction of a forensic laboratory, which according to the budget, will significantly improve the country’s forensic investigative capacity.
At present, police depend solely on statements from eyewitness and confession statements, fingerprints and ballistic evidence for their cases.
This has resulted in several matters either remaining unsolved or going in favour of the defence.
Just recently, four youths were acquitted for the murder Teddy Smith, a taxi driver, after the High Court threw out fingerprint evidence and confession statements that the state presented.
April 23, 2010 | By KNews | Filed Under News
Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, hopes that the much-touted police forensic laboratory will be completed by year-end or mid next year.
Rohee made this disclosure to journalists yesterday while conceding the need for police to present more forensic evidence in court to strengthen their cases.
“As Minister of Home Affairs, yes,” Rohee said, when asked about the need for investigators to back up their cases with forensic evidence.
“It is precisely for this reason that under the Citizens’ Security Programme we are constructing a forensic laboratory in the UG compound to upgrade the forensic facilities of the Guyana Police Force.
“As you can see the pace with which the Central Intelligence building has gone up…we are not fooling around.”
Some $473 million has been set aside for the construction of a forensic laboratory, which according to the budget, will significantly improve the country’s forensic investigative capacity.
At present, police depend solely on statements from eyewitness and confession statements, fingerprints and ballistic evidence for their cases.
This has resulted in several matters either remaining unsolved or going in favour of the defence.
Just recently, four youths were acquitted for the murder Teddy Smith, a taxi driver, after the High Court threw out fingerprint evidence and confession statements that the state presented.