Georgetown – The Police Officers’ Conference continues today, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee called on the members of the force to engage in “clear thinking” to meet the challenges of today’s law enforcement.
In a presentation that focused on the law enforcement realities for the Guyana Police Force in 2011, Minister Rohee outlined several major hurdles the force had to overcome in order to provide a better quality of service to and protection of the people of Guyana.
According to the Minister, the rapid developments in technology have made the world a global village that come inherent with its own set of challenges, and therefore urged the force’s members to “think beyond the country’s borders and adapt policing strategies to meet both local and international requirements and standards of performance” as the scrutiny to which their work will now be subjected will require functionality similar to that of a developed country. 
In urging the law enforcement officials to become more cognizant of hemispheric and regional security challenges, Minster Rohee identified a relatively high murder rate, narco-trafficking, trafficking in small and light arms, youth and gang violence, deportations and terrorism as issues that have a significant impact regionally.
In the Guyana context, drug trafficking and its spin-offs, domestic terrorism, murders, robberies, domestic related violence, the involvement of youths in crime, and gun violence were identified as those ills that plague society.
The Minister pointed Government’s recognition of the need for an effective law enforcement strategy to address crime and security in the country and according to the Minister has not “failed in its provision of adequate resources.”
In assessing the Force’s performance in 2010, the Minister dubbed it “reasonable when all factors are taken into consideration.” He noted that while the number of reports of murders increased, there was a decline in the number of reports of robberies and the resultant reduction in the number of reports of serious crimes in 2010, compared with 2009. He urged officers, especially the senior members of the force to use the challenges of the last year, to improve their performance in 2011.
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