New police vehicles not for ‘joyrides’ – President Ali tells cops

The Guyana Police Force’s vehicle fleet was significantly boosted with the handing over of 50 new pickups from the government on Monday.

President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Dr Irfaan Ali delivered the feature address at the handing over ceremony held at Eve Leary, Georgetown; he implored that the vehicles must be used for their intended purpose and not for “joyrides.”

“The vehicles provided to the Force must not be used for joyrides.

“The assets being provided to the Force are to boost its capacity, its responsiveness and people will judge us by the way in which we care for and use these assets,” the Head-of-State said.

The Commander-in-Chief also took note of the level of misuse and reckless driving by police ranks.

“The Force needs to take better care of its transportation and equipment, the provision of resources must be accompanied by greater responsibility in their use and care.”

The new vehicles will see the improvement of mobility and response from the Force, which President Ali said was “severely handicapped due to the lack of unserviceable vehicles. The President said that in the past year over 100 vehicles in the Force were repaired and some are now unserviceable.

“This cannot continue, we are exploring the replacement of the engines for a number of these vehicles,” President Ali said.

Additionally, the President said a Security Sector Reform Study done in 2017 found a number of deficiencies within the Police Force some of which include shortages of vehicles, poor state of vehicles and poor maintenance of physical assets among others.

“In recognition of these and other deficiencies we committed in our manifesto among other things to providing more equipment, facilities and training,” the President said.

Meanwhile, the provision of the new vehicles gives the Force hope and motivation to help in the execution of duties, Commissioner of Police (ag), Nigel Hoppie said during brief remarks.

Commissioner Hoppie said he is optimistic that the quality of service delivered by the Force will also improve.

Additionally, the Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn pointed out that one of the biggest challenges faced by the Police Force has been the lack of vehicles to respond to incidents in a timely manner.