Dear Editor,
The inability of the police thus far to identify, much less arrest, the murderer of Danrasie Ganesh of Montrose despite the availability of his fingerprints all over the crime scene has caused me once again to think of Gecom’s searchable database of registrants and its possible use to fight crime.
In 2008, Gecom created a new National Register of Registrants’ Database (NRRDB) through house-to-house registration of almost all Guyanese over the age of 14 years. One significant aspect of this endeavour was the collection of biometric data (fingerprints and photos) from each registrant to facilitate cross-matching of fingerprints to detect multiple registration. This is a massive database with fingerprints and photos of over 500,000 persons of voting age alone. It is also continuously expanded through the continuous registration process. All reports since its creation have hailed the successful use of biometrics as a tool to produce a clean voters list.
Why can’t this database be used as a resource in crime fighting? What are the policy, legal and technical obstacles that prevent information sharing between Gecom and the Guyana Police Force? The Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) of our police force can no way match the volume of biometric data in Gecom’s NRRDB.
Yet the AFIS is credited with the recent arrest of several dozens of persons. This matter is frequently debated in Jamaica, one of the pioneers of the use of biometrics for electoral purposes. But, for one reason or the other, Jamaica too is yet to use its registration database in the fight against crime.
Regardless, the elimination of the current crime wave and the control of crime in general in Guyana demand that we employ all available resources. The NRRDB needs to be urgently assessed in this regard.
Yours faithfully,
Sherwood Lowe
