Rohee raps police over murders, low solution rate

-urges revival of marine wing

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee on Tuesday expressed concern over the number of murders and the police’s low solution rate.

Rohee, during his feature address at the closing ceremony of the Junior Officer’s Course, Number 25, at the Guyana Police Force Officer’s Training Centre, aired his concerns about the amount of murders during this year. He said that the rate is too high, while the solution rate is too low. Robberies he continued, are increasing despite the allocation of vehicles to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) by his ministry. Additionally, Rohee said that amount of gun-related crimes being committed in the country, is a source of great concern to the ministry. “Criminals seem to have unfettered access to illegal firearms,” said the Minister, as he called on the GPF to take steps to take the guns off the streets.

Singling out the recent reports of fishermen being attacked by pirates, the Minister, stated that the GPF “lacks the institutional capacity to respond to the reports of piracy and to successfully investigate.” Moreover, Rohee signalled his ministry’s willingness to lead the process of development

Clement Rohee
Clement Rohee

of the marine capacity of the GPF, as he urged the law enforcement agency, “to take steps to rehabilitate its ailing marine branch.”

Recently, fisherman Samuel Benjamin Jnr, 24, of 4 Miles, Port Kaituma and his teenaged brother were attacked by three armed men while fishing at the mouth of the Waini River in the North West District on September 4. There were complaints that the police were slow to respond. Four fishermen were allegedly attacked by pirates and tossed overboard in Suriname waters on the night of July 8th. Still missing from that piracy attack are, Vinesh Drunarine, called ‘Dinesh’ or ‘Monkey Brain,’ 24, of Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, Raymond Gomes, 37, and Chandrapaul Jallim, 19, both of Recht-door-Zee, West Bank Demerara.

The “recent discovery of a semi-submersible vessel,” Rohee added, tells a story of the need to intensify river patrols, especially in the interior of the country.

“In this regard, it is apposite to note that between 2010 and 2014, Government spent a whopping $641,990,000 on land and water transport for the Guyana Police Force (GPF). A floating Police base has been built costing $49.9M while equipment for the base will cost $16.4M. Four (4) additional patrol boats have been procured to the

tune of $49.4M while $85.5M has been spent on training of the Ranks in the context of Government’s Anti-Piracy Strategy”, Rohee said.

He stated that his ministry is not unaware of the need for the numerical strength of the GPF to be increased. Therefore, it was in light of that, the Ministry of Home Affairs sought and received the approval of cabinet for the strength of the force to be increased.

“There is need for the police to make use of the technological tools that have been developed at the Ministry of Home Affairs,” said Rohee, to aid ranks in preventing and detecting crime. He said that these include the Integrated Crime Information System and the Crime Mapping Mechanism that is in an advance state of development.