Dear Editor,
I am amused at the drama that followed the multimillion dollar heist which occurred outside the Bourda post office last week. It was first reported by the police that $90 million dollars was stolen, but some time later, the management of the Guyana Post Office Corporation reported that the amount stolen was in fact $45 million.
Then, there is the expressed opinion of Minister of Human Services and Social Security Jennifer Webster, who was on record last year as having opined that the pattern and frequency of robberies committed against the postal service suggested collusion, a suggestion which did not go down well with union representatives. The Guyana Post Office Corporation for its part has reported, that in spite of having spent an inordinate sum of money, the robberies of post offices continue unabated.
As mentioned before, there seem to be something fundamentally wrong with the manner in which the protective security function of the Government of Guyana is handled. Many visitors to Guyana are able to identify this poor security culture shortly after their arrival here.
From a security management standpoint, post offices, insurance offices and banks, are classified as financial institutions and their security provided for accordingly. In the case of banks, government regulations and compliance with international best practices have seen their security improve considerably. However, the postal service which has traditionally operated under financial constraints has often been the victim of crime.
Since I do not consider the transporting of $45M at once to be a mundane activity, it goes without saying that the transporting of large amounts of cash will necessitate risk management at its most basic level. For example, a woman has $60,000 to pay bills; she calls her rent collector and gives him $20,000. She then leaves with $20,000 to pay GPL, GT&T and pick up a few items from the market.
If she is robbed at home before the rent collector arrives, she loses $60,000; if she travels with all her money at once, after paying rent and is robbed, she loses $40,000. By breaking her financial tasks into segments she reduces her risk – thus, if she is robbed on the streets, she loses $20,000 or less. Am I to believe that the management of the Guyana Post Office Corporation is oblivious of this fact?
Whenever a security department is tasked with providing protective services that go beyond their regular scope of duties, eg, to move a larger than normal amount of money at once, that operation should be managed as a security project. From a risk management standpoint, the greatest threat to an enterprise is the threat of collusion; this is because most crimes committed on organizations in Western countries are committed by employees or with the help of employees.
Yours faithfully,
Clairmont Featherstone
