By Leroy Smith
Effective today (Sunday, January 15, 2017), the Guyana Police Force(GPF) is bringing its two intelligence gathering arms under one umbrella.
The Force’s Special Branch and the Crime Intelligence Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (C.I.D) were previously headed by separate branch commanders. Those will however change, from today.
The move is one of the structural and operational changes touted by Commissioner of Police, Seelall Persaud since last year as being one of the force’s directions for 2017 to increase efficiency.
Previously, the Special Branch was headed by either an Assistant Commissioner of Police or a Senior Superintendent of Police. The News Room however recently learnt that the branch would now be headed by a Superintendent of Police, Brian Eastman.
The substantive head of the Special Branch who is said to be a Senior Superintendent only had four months on the job before proceeding into retirement leave.
Eastman up to Friday was heading the Crime intelligence Unit of the C.I.D where he was answerable to the Crime Chief. However, he will now be mandated to report directly to the Commissioner of Police.
One police source who the News Room contacted last evening, said that Eastman would be the youngest officer to ever head the intelligence arm of the force, more specifically Special branch and would also see him as the youngest among the Divisional and Branch Commanders.
He is said to have complete studies at the University of Guyana as well as participated in several training courses within the Caribbean and further afield.
Contacted last evening for a comment, Eastman refused to confirm or deny the move but directed all questions to the Public Relations Officer of the Guyana Police Force or the Commissioner of Police.
The News Room has been advised that the force is likely to make a statement on the move during the course of this week.
