‘Significant’ investments in forensic investigations, policing – Nandlall

To ensure that crime is effectively tackled, the government has been investing “significantly” in all forms of forensic sciences to be integrated into policing and investigations, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, said on Monday.

“We have recognised…that we have to change our approach to investigations if we are to be successful.

“So, we are concentrating more on forensic investigation, forensic policing using scientific methods and technological approaches as well as human resources training to combat crime,” Nandlall said.

He was speaking at the opening of a training programme in restorative justice for toshaos, prison officers, probation officers and others under the Inter-American Development Bank-funded Support for the Criminal Justice System Programme.

Nandlall suggested that the focus on forensics forms part of the government’s plan to adjust policing strategies to conform with changes in the society and the way criminals operate.

“The criminal takes advantage of the technological changes…of the suffocated apparatus that we have now. They use them to commit crime,” Nandlall said.

Already, the use of handwritten statements are no longer being tolerated.

In fact, just recently Nandlall made a public appeal for the Commissioner of Police (ag) Clifton Hicken to ensure that ranks no longer take those handwritten statements and instead use the electronic devices provided.

Similarly, with the assistance of international expertise local police officers benefitted from training in forensic photography, documentation examination, ballistics and fingerprinting in the past.

At the same time, investments are being made to boost the capacity and capability of the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory.

He also revealed that  over 30 police officers and five officers from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security will depart on a fully paid scholarship programme in India to be trained in forensic interviews.