And he also called on Berbicians to do their civic duty and join the Force, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.

“Now is the time that we have to get more young people to join the GPF,” GINA quoted the President as saying.

The welcome reduction in reported criminal activities will not stop the efforts to enhance the capability of the GPF, he noted, but instead it gives government an opportunity to build the forces’ capacity to deal with increasing crime as well as sophisticated crimes, GINA reported.

“Now is the time we have to strengthen the Police Force... We have a tendency, only when we face problems to look to prepare for them. We must prepare in the good times and the bad times,” Jagdeo said. “We must not become complacent,” the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces cautioned.

The crime wave followed a bloody jailbreak at the Georgetown Prisons on February 23, 2002 during which five prisoners escaped.

Four have since been killed while one remains at large. Government has substantially increased the Security Force’s budget, GINA said. The Police Force was given $355M in this year’s budget.