Acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine yesterday said that while a lot is being done to prosecute criminals, more will be done in the area of crime prevention.
Ramnarine made the pronouncement at a joint graduating ceremony, held at the Guyana Police Force Officers’ Training Centre, for 101 ranks from the Joint Services and the labour department, who successfully completed four training courses.
The participants who completed the Elementary Prosecutors’ Course, the Continuous Professional Development Programme, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Induction and the Special Constable Initial Training, were drawn from the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Revenue Authority, the Department of Labour of the Ministry of Social Protection, the City Constabulary and the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU).
Ramnarine gave the feature address and told the gathering that even though a lot is being done when it comes to the prosecution of crimes, more needs to be done to prevent them. “…And that is coming. We have a lot of resources, which we will soon roll out. We have an increase in manpower and increases in various capacities and several areas and our prevention will improve,” Ramnarine said.
During the presentation, Ramnarine stressed the need for professionalism by the graduates and emphasised that it needs to be carried over to all aspect of their lives and not just when they are in uniform.
“A habit is loyalty to a practice and if we are content with giving the bare minimum then we will never move forward,” Ramnarine stressed.
“These are serious times and our role in the security environment is perhaps the most important role to play… and some of us are playing with it. We are toying with it and think we can get off with it. It will not work,” Ramnarine added, while stating that the same efforts that are used to prosecute the normal citizens who commit crimes with impunity should be used to deal with ranks that commit crimes.
Ramnarine reminded the graduates that it is not the public citizens that took oaths to protect and serve, but those that wear the uniforms and, therefore, they must not be neglectful in their duty.
“The force is strong, the force is a body and not an individual. It is a collective and so it will survive. That is the evolving nature of law enforcement and as new developments come on board, law enforcement has to go back to the drawing board and review its strategies, create policies and give directions that are acceptable to who we serve,” Ramnarine said, while stating that it is the public that can make or break a rank and that no servant can ever be greater than his master.
Ramnarine also used the forum to address misconduct by police ranks, several of whom have been charged for various offences, such as speeding, drunk driving, and even more serious crimes. During his presentation, he displayed a list of all the various crimes that ranks have been implicated in during the year and implored the graduates to use it as deterrent.
