Georgetown: A sixteen-million-dollar (US$78,750) contract for the creation of a digital map of all the crime hotspots in Region Four, Demerara-Mahaica was given the go-ahead by Cabinet. Minister of State, Joseph Harmon informed the media recently that the contract was awarded by the Ministry of Public Security to the Consultant, Valerie Grant.
At the post-Cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency, the minister said, “this crime mapping consultancy will depict spatial depictions of crimes in Region Four. The project will give serious crimes and geocode them; the occurrence of crime as per geographic locations and create communicative maps so that Guyanese citizens will be able to see a digital map that depicts where crimes are occurring based on crime data.”
The initiative, similar to services provided in other countries will assist persons to avoid becoming victims of criminal activity. The State Minister explained that the map will be displayed similar to “Google Maps” and “will be visible in real time”.
According to Minster Harmon, users will have the option to “zoom in” and access crime data such as the type of crime that occurred in a particular location at a particular time.
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) in its latest report, has recorded a nine percent decrease in serious crimes at the end of June 2018 compared to the similar period last year. The move towards the digital crime mapping is part of the government’s initiative to use Information Communication Technology (ICT) to improve the lives of citizens via the use of state-of-the-art technology.
Crime analysts use crime mapping and analysis to help law enforcement to make better decisions, target resources, and formulate strategies, as well as for tactical analysis (eg crime forecasting, and geographic profiling).
Research has shown that the boom of Internet technologies, particularly web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies, is opening up new opportunities for use of crime mapping to support crime prevention.
Only recently, the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) had named the Bourda and Stabroek Markets as havens for criminal activities. As such, citizens and foreigners were warned about the location.
At the same time, the Police statistics proved that 20 murders were recorded in Region Four. With respect to other crimes, the Police did not give a breakdown as to the regions they were committed.
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