The agency said security exercises, involving the Joint Services - Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Guyana Police Force (GPF), Guyana Fire Service (GFS), Guyana Prison Service (GPS) - as well as other agencies, have been significantly intensified.

GINA said, on June 6, the GDF launched a land, air and sea operation to detect crime and apprehend the escapees and other criminals, following operations ‘Plaster of Paris’ and ‘Tourniquet’, during which the Army claimed incidents of robbery, particularly, were greatly reduced.

GINA said ‘Plaster of Paris’ and ‘Tourniquet’ followed the June 7 announcement of the menu of measures by President Bharrat Jagdeo and the release of $100M for the purchase of weaponry, protective gear and transport and communication equipment for the Police.

Improvements in the intelligence capacity of the Police and a review of then existing welfare package for enforcement personnel were also announced, including an allocation of $20M for dependants of policemen murdered by criminals, GINA recalled.

The agency said, on July 24, Cabinet awarded a $10M contract to buy 14 motor vehicles for the Police and another $33M went to the Army for the rehabilitation and construction of Coast Guard buildings.

Meantime, the Prison Service intensified its recruitment and 30 more recruits have, so far, been recruited.

GINA said, since the February jailbreak, Government has been giving support to families of the slain and injured prison officers and the Police are offering a $10M reward for information leading to the recapture of the remaining escapees.

According to GINA, the Police and Army have jointly mounted hundreds of patrols, roadblocks and searches along East Coast and East Bank Demerara and the Police have:
uniform task forces on a 24-hour basis in all divisions;

plain clothes patrols in all divisions;

tactical patrols on a 24-hour basis;

Impact patrols on a 24-hour basis;

published particulars of deportees and monitored them;

compiled and publicised bulletins for wanted persons and

have been provided body armour, effective weaponry and other equipment.

All Police stations have been alerted to the escapees and neighbouring countries, too, while the assistance of community policing groups has been sought for round-the-clock anti-crime campaigns.

GINA said the Government has solicited help from overseas-based Guyanese, as well, to improve the quality of the Force and Police Commissioner-designate Winston Felix went abroad to procure protective gear while some 22 bulletproof vests were received from non-resident nationals.

The Police have introduced a hotline (225-6411) for reports of criminal activities and assured that calls to the number will be treated with strict confidence.

GINA said the more recent Government action was the passing of amendments to four anti-crime bills in Parliament - Prevention of Crimes (Amendment) Bill, Criminal Law Offences (Amendment) Bill, Racial Hostility (Amendment) Bill and Evidence (Amendment) Bill 2002.

The agency said the amendment to the Prevention of Crimes Bill is principally aimed at having returned criminal deportees monitored by the Police.

The Criminal Law Offences (Amendment) Bill is expected to prevent criminal violence and destruction of property and it defines a terrorist act.

The Racial Hostility (Amendment) Bill seeks to increase penalties for offences under the principal Act and the purpose of amending the Evidence Act is to extend the range of materials acceptable in Court to include documents generated by computer and other information on discs, tapes or sound tracks, GINA said.

The agency said, at the request of President Jagdeo, public national consultations on crime were held with participants from the Army, Police, Private Sector and religious bodies, to elicit views on crime solving.