Despite the surge in criminal activities being reported in the media, Commissioner of Police, Leslie James is not too concerned about the spike, even though ranks in the Guyana Police Force (GPF) continue to battle daily.
Reports in various sections of the media publicise the increase in crime countrywide but according to the Top Cop, the statistics that the GPF has recorded reveal that there is a decrease in the rate of serious crimes in Guyana when compared to last year for the same period.
“Persons are still bent in dealing with crime…We cannot prevent persons from deciding to commit crime but we are doing our utmost…I am not necessarily bothered because I am saying there a few sensational crimes that are occurring. We have noted that there might have been a spike but I can say at the moment we have a minus 3.4 per cent in serious crimes generally,” James said.
According to the Commissioner, there are more reports of petty crimes occurring instead of serious crimes such as murder.
“We have petty snatching of persons’ property, cellphones, purses, handbags and things like that. Especially in the Stabroek Market area. As you know, the Commander of Division Four A was tasked along with Crime Chief and other senior officers to deal with this matter.”
Just recently, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo flagged the David Granger-led Administration for failing to address the country’s crime situation.
“Whilst crime is ravaging the country, [President Granger] has not outlined any measures to arrest this situation,” Jagdeo said at his weekly press conference on Thursday.
According to the Opposition Leader, President Granger touted the Security Sector Reform Report received from British consultants and the appointment of four Deputy Commissioners of Police that was not there before.
“This is another evidence of him being aloof,” Jagdeo contended.
Weeks after getting into office in 2015, President Granger had summoned his top security officials and laid out a five-point action plan that the security sector would use to battle the crime wave, which at that time, had been rising at an alarming rate. The plan, however, was more of a strategic nature than immediate actions to address the crime wave.
Since then, despite insisting that the crime rate has reduced, the coalition Administration has come under heavy criticism for failing to effectively tackle the situation.
In fact, Granger, when asked during a recent podcast why dealing with the crime situation is proving to be difficult when his Government is comprised of some former top security officials, including himself being a member of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), he posited that there is not a single crime problem but various facets.
“The crime situation is not as bad as people make it out to be… But the one [facet] that catches the public’s attention easily and quickly is interpersonal violence,” he stated, adding that they are aware of the issues and are working on tackling them.
