Region One Commander, Superintendent Boodnarine Persaud, has called on police officers there to be more proactive, and to work with residents as the region continues its fight against crime.
Commander Persaud was at the time addressing the annual breakfast and award ceremony of Division One, in the region.
He reported that serious crimes in the Mabaruma sub-district, have increased by 21 per cent when compared to last year’s report. He said there is also a significant increase in robbery under arms, standing at nine per cent this year against four per cent in 2020. Statutory rape stands at 49 per cent, compared to 23 per cent in 2020.
He added that solving cases of statutory rape continues to be a challenge, since most cases are only reported during pregnancy.
Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, who was also at the event, said the government has invested significant funds to enhance the physical infrastructure of the security sector, as well as better the lot of officers to better serve citizens.
Government’s investment includes the purchase of 50 police vehicles at a cost of $225 million from the recently approved $21 billion supplementary budget.
“Policing can be thankless job sometimes because you can be critiqued for doing your job. However, this situation can go vice versa, you know both sides of the coin.”
Like Persaud, Minister Croal believes building a relationship with the communities in the region could be quite beneficial.
“If you don’t have the community support…the only way to be successful in solving crimes is through intelligence. So, the reality is that if we don’t have community spirit then it will make our work much harder,” he noted.
The housing minister pledged the government’s continued support to improve the security sector. As such, he hopes that all officers continue to perform their duties with integrity, honesty and professionalism.
Regional Chairman, Brentnol Ashley agreed with the minister’s sentiments. He told the officers that they are important and without them, there would be no order. To this end, he encouraged them to develop themselves to become the best version.
Meanwhile, several police officers and members of community policing groups (CPGs) were honoured for their work. (DPI)
