More investigations should be carried out into the background of new police recruits, while the salaries of police officers should be substantially increased.
These were two of the suggestions made by residents of Soesdyke and Agricola, East Bank Demerara, during the ongoing National Crime Consultations on Saturday.
“You cannot stamp out corruption right away, but if their [police] welfare is looked after they will perform better,” one resident said.
A release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said that while some residents lauded the efforts of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in dealing with the “ugly” situation in Guyana others said that “there is a lot of tightening that needs to be done.”
The release said that one participant said that she saw criminals shaking hands with members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) which raised suspicious about confidentiality in relation to the army and the police.
According to the release, many participants said that the police should provide advice to persons who had been receiving constant threats, that they should be equipped 24 hours a day with firearms or they should be licensed to carry their personal weapons. They also recommended that after retirement, officers should be carefully screened to determine whether they should remain firearms holders. The residents were of the view that more money was needed for additional vehicles, equipment and protective gear for police officers. They also were of the view that the media should not disclose to the public certain sensitive developments in the GPF, because criminals could take steps to thwart police operations.
A further suggestion was that in the event of a police-army operation in a community, neighbouring communities should be given notification prior to the operation.
The residents also recommended that the intelligence unit of the force be improved so that confidentiality and trust could be regained by the public as this would result in people not being afraid to give information to the police.
According to the release they also thought that deportees should be monitored more closely and that the government should institute more land settlement schemes to prevent overpopulation in communities.
Also high on the list of recommendations, the release said, was national service and skills training for young people and an education system which placed more emphasis on imparting morals, values, skills and discipline in students from as early as nursery level. Moreover, the release said, it was proposed that there should be frequent police inspection of schools and that attention should be paid to the high level of school drop-outs.
The decentralization of employment opportunities away from the capital city was also recommended as this the residents, said would prevent youngsters from turning to crime in communities.