Police Force gets motorcycles in wake of 25 percent increase in armed robberies

Last Updated on Monday, 28 December 2020, 16:02 by Denis Chabrol

The Guyana Police Force has acquired 15 motorcycles at a cost of GYD$6.5 million to respond to a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in robberies especially in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn said.

Responding to questions on a financial paper that was subsequently approved by the National Assembly, he said the police force asked for more support due to the spike in armed robberies. “Mr. Speaker, there has been a general increase in armed robberies in the order of 20 to 25 percent during the year against 2019 year-to-date,” Mr. Benn told the House.

The Guyana Police Force has for several months now stopped releasing quarterly crime statistics. Repeated requests by the media for those figures have been ignored by the police force.

The Home Affairs  Minister said the Honda motorcycles were deployed on  Monday divided between traffic and anti-crime patrols on the East Bank Demerara and East Coast Demerara.

Mr. Benn said the Police Force asked for more motorcycles because most of the most current fleet. “The Guyana Police Force identified for us the urgent need for motorcycles, given the fact that many of the motorcycles which they have which were operational are in a dilapidated, non-operational state in the mechanic shops,” he said.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Geeta Chandan-Edmond’s questions concerning the procurement process were not answered in the Assembly and Benn promised to provide written answers. She wants to know whether an advertisement was placed in the newspaper, a copy of newspapers in which the ad was placed, when the advertisement was first placed, when the tender was closed. how long the tender process took and who won the tender.