Police force to get US$5M in vehicles, boats

Last Updated on Saturday, 17 October 2015, 18:30 by GxMedia

Police stations countrywide will by next year be expected to respond to emergency calls on a timely basis and conduct periodic patrols.

Police Commissioner, Seelall Persaud announced on Saturday that the police force would be getting a large number of vehicles and boats to be funded from a US$5 million grant.

““We are likely to see a great boost in our transportation capacity so much so that every police station will have a vehicle or boat to conduct patrols as appropriate,” he told the Passing Out Parade of more than 130 new policemen and women.

Persaud declined to say which country would be providing the funds that were negotiated for earlier this year.

Members of the public have had to provide their own transportation for police to respond to crime scenes.

Despite fewer than required vehicles and other deficiencies, the Guyana Police Force has been able to keep the level of serious crimes below the level in 2013. He said latest statistics show that serious crimes were nine percent above last year and three percent below 2013.

Looking ahead, the Police Commissioner expects investments in capacity building  at the Criminal Investigations Department and crime intelligence as well as positive outcomes in social crime prevention and the Cops and Faith community to reap dividends in suppressing crimes and detecting perpetrators.