The Defence Board will next week consider an increased role for the army in crime fighting and law enforcement work and discuss the statutory changes which might be necessary to allow the army to play a greater role in maintaining public order.
President Bharrat Jagdeo said that the Defence Board would meet on Thursday and the issue of the increased role for the army would be discussed then.
Units of the army and police are currently training together and the President told a press conference yesterday at State House that he had been speaking for some time now about an increased role for the army in the fight against drugs; safeguarding Guyana's maritime resources; in development works and supporting the police force in law enforcement.
The Defence Act sets out the role of the army as defence and maintenance of order in Guyana and such other duties as might be defined by the Defence Board from time to time.
With the wave of increased crime in Guyana, the army has been called in to assist the police to recapture the five men who escaped from prison on February 23. Jagdeo, the Commander-in- Chief of the armed forces, said yesterday that he had to take the word of the Commissioner of Police and the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force that they were making their best efforts to recapture the escapees.
He said that the army and police had two task forces - operational and intelligence - and they knew what they were doing. He said the public might have a difficulty understanding that progress was being made but this was because they did not have all the information that the law enforcement agencies had.