He said now is the time of greatest urgency for the groups to rise to the cause and arrest the current crime situation, which has been prevalent along the East Coast since last year.

The minister, at the closing ceremony of the 'C' Division Community Policing Awareness Week at the Ocean View International Hotel, Liliendaal, said the benefits from continued vigilance would require more active participation.
During the Awareness Week of activities, CPGs within the division were involved in projects including painting road traffic signs, community clean-up campaigns and lectures in schools on road safety.

Police 'C' Division, East Coast Demerara, comprises 57 CPGs with 1,600 members, officials said.

The groups are from Enmore, Strathspey, Golden Grove, Enterprise, Bladen Hall, Annandale, Triumph, Montrose, Ogle and other villages.

Chairman of `C' Division policing groups, Mr. Parmanand Sukhu, at the Saturday ceremony, said some CPGs in the division also carried out activities in observance of the Awareness Week but did not submit reports.

Gajraj said the importance of the partnership between the Police and CPGs cannot be overemphasised and must be seen and felt in reality, especially at this juncture of the country's development.

Community policing must not be seen as an entity by itself, but as an organisational strategy that promotes an inseparable partnership between the Police and communities in an effort to identify, prioritise and solve contemporary problems, he said.

The problems include crime, drugs, social and physical disorder and overall neighbourhood decay, he noted, adding that the partnership must be forged and strengthened, working in tandem for the benefit of the entire community.

He said the united effort must produce the desired goal of improving the overall quality of life.

He said though that there must be a more proactive rather than a reactive approach to reduce the level of crimes being committed in the communities.

This will allow members of those communities to be focused and have more confidence while going about their daily business, rather than having to look over their shoulders in suspicion of being targeted by criminal elements, he explained.

In this regard, the minister said, mutual respect, an increased level of interaction and support are the main ingredients that must be considered essential in promoting a lasting unity between the Police and the groups.

Criminals tend to target dormant communities rather than those where CPG members are alert, active and prepared to deal with any eventuality, Gajraj said.

He said those communities will attract a quicker response from the regular Police because they would be able to rely on the support that is already there.

He pointed out that an example of good community policing relations was the safe recovery last month of a young man from Annandale who had been kidnapped.

He was rescued because residents knew the layout of the village and its environs and was able to find the trail of the kidnappers, he said.