SOCU funding coming – Granger

Last Updated on Thursday, 25 February 2016, 13:04 by

With criticism about the lack of resources for the Special and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) surfacing, President David Granger has assured that better days are ahead for the unit as funding as allocated in the 2016 Budget has been approved.

On Wednesday, UK expert Sam Sittlington said that the lack of resources at SOCU would dearly affect the work being put out by the unit when one considers the unit’s human resources and the workload.

He said that while SOCU is currently conducting 285 investigations with less than ten persons working at the agency.

“SOCU currently manage a total of 285 investigations, 59 of those are live investigations of which immediate action is required and the remaining held until further intelligence becomes available. Prioritising is essential,” said Sittlington.

He pointed out too that SOCU is expecting further large NICIL type investigations to reach their doors in the coming weeks and the workload cannot be sustained within the current staff.

Questioned by Demerara Waves on Thursday, President Granger indicated that the Appropriation Bill has received his signature and it is now in the hands of the line Ministry and the Guyana Police Force to utilize the funds.

“Money should be released shortly it is up to the Minister of Public Security and the Commissioner of Police to ensure that the money is spent for the reasons which it has been budgeted,” said the President.’

Already, he pointed out, there have been noticeable changes in the operations of the Guyana Police and SOCU as a unit.

Some $40M was budgeted under the Ministry of the Presidency for the operations of the Unit. (Jomo Brusheildon Paul)