The Minister, who made the call during an outreach exercise in the East Coast Demerara community yesterday, cautioned that the on-going joint-services offensive against criminals will cause them (the criminals) to come under intense scrutiny, and they would thus look to secret themselves in areas that are relatively quiet and under less suspicion of harbouring criminal elements.

He noted that some of the “prominent” criminals who were known to be the head of gangs housed in Buxton, have been apprehended or killed in armed confrontation with Police.

The other members will not be welcomed in the community and as such they will look for other places to hid, he said.

“We were able to subdue some of the criminal elements and people are coming out to give the Police information. Some of the successes we have gotten resulted from the intervention of people,” the Minister added.

Another issue Minister Gajraj highlighted was that of confidentiality, which he stressed was a key element in the fight against crime. He noted that his ministry and the security forces are trying to repair the fractured relationship with members of the public.

“If we find that policemen have relationships with criminals we would deal with them in a certain manner,” Gajraj re-assured the audience.

He said too that a mechanism has been established to have information received and filtered to the relevant personnel.

According to Minister Gajraj, there are certain lessons to be learnt over the past few months, one being the perception that the Police Force just shoots to kill.

However, he emphatically stated that the role of the Police is to protect the wider society, so “if they are in confrontation with criminal elements, they must ensure the safety of the community,” Gajraj said.

On the issue of criminal elements concealing themselves in residential areas, the Minister referred to the Dale Moore and Shawn Brown incidents. He also touched on the relentless quest to demoralize members of the security forces.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and some sections of the media questioned the actions of the security forces when wanted man Romel Reman and five others were killed in Buxton.

To this, the Minister said it was “a vile attempt to seek to justify the criminal elements’ action,” and vehemently stated that the Government and the Ministry of Home Affairs in particular would give the security forces their fullest support.

Questioned about how the criminals acquire their firearms, the Minister said in some cases it is from licensed firearm holders, and mentioned the incident of the security guard who was killed and relieved of his gun at Bhagan’s Drug Store on Camp and Middle Streets.

In addition, there’s the possibility that the guns being used by the criminals may have come from neighbouring countries, and assured that intense investigations are being conducted to determine the source or sources.

Noting that there is no need for complacency, Minister Gajraj advised the De Hoop residents to form a Community Policing Group (CPG)..

“You are the eyes and the ears, and that is what we need to solve the crime situation,” said the Minister.