Police reports could be made over the phone soon

Reporting a crime could soon be as simple as using a smartphone, President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced, as the Guyana Police Force moves to a fully integrated e-reporting system.

At the opening of the Guyana Police Force Annual Officers’ Conference, President Ali said the new platform will allow anyone to report a crime from their phone.

“We are living in a fast-paced society and we also have to change the mechanism of reporting crime so that we can have proactive policing.

“So we are going to design on our platform, an e-reporting form, a simple form that anybody can report a crime from their phone and that report will be electronically sent to the nearest police outpost because all of our police outpost will be integrated,” President Ali said.

The system will also track police response times and overall performance.

Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken, said the initiative builds on updates to Region 4’s 911 platform, which is part of a broader push toward a national system linking all police regional divisions.

The 911 system currently serves as an emergency call centre, receiving reports of crime, accidents or urgent incidents and directing them to the appropriate local police unit.

Dr Ali emphasised that the e-reporting platform is part of a move toward proactive and preventative policing.

“We want not only a highly effective and efficient police force in response, but also in proactive and preventative policing,” he said, noting that technology allows the force to anticipate and prevent crime through better analysis and coordination.