President David Granger believes several duties assigned to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) including immigration and issuance of firearm licenses should be outsourced to allow for more ranks to be available for crime fighting.
“The Force must be brought to strength. Trained police officers must be deployed away from non-core functions such as immigration, certification of vehicular fitness and issuance of gun licenses. These non-core functions must be outsourced so as ensure that more trained ranks are deployed to crime-fighting duties,” he said on Thursday at the opening of the Force’s annual conference.
The conference was opened at State House, the President’s official residence.
He noted that the Force’s personnel strength of about 4,600 is inadequate and will be augmented during the next decade which he referred to as the ‘Decade of Development’.
With 3,000 km of borders and 460 km of sea coast, the Force is challenged to enforce the law effectively everywhere, he noted.
The President said the Force’s personnel have increased by 37.6 percent from 3,610 in 2014 to 4, 956 at as December 2019 and is now being supported by a 1,990 member Constabulary.
One month before elections are due, the President boasted that police officers are now enjoying improved wages and salaries since his Government was elected in 2015.
“The average pay of a constable has increased from G$55,889 in 2014 to G$88,237 in 2019,” he noted.
The President spoke of more border security, efforts to improve the various branches of the police force and improved relations between the Force and communities.
The annual police officers conference runs for three days where challenges and programmes for the force are being discussed.
