The Guyana Police Force issues monetary rewards to individuals who provide the police with reliable information concerning cases being investigated.
This was revealed by Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum during the Progress Report, a programme produced by the government’s Department of Public Information (DPI).
The Crime Chief noted that this reward is usually given once the case has been solved.
“We have an informant scheme and a lot of crimes were solved as a result of persons coming on board and giving information to the police. And those individuals, when they give information to the police and we’re able to solve a case, those individuals would normally receive some money,” Blanhum explained.
The Crime Chief also shared that the GPF has been operating at a 19% reduction in serious crimes which has been attributed to multiple factors. These include local and international training for police ranks and the implementation of the informant scheme.
Additionally, Blanhum said the Force has been working with some non-governmental organisations to provide assistance to a number of communities across the country. This initiative, he said, has been a success because, in some of those communities, there has been a reduction in serious crimes.
“This particular initiative has been bearing fruit, as I said before, in some of these communities we have seen a significant reduction in serious crimes.”
“We have police ranks in every station district who would go into respective communities and interact with members to find out some of the security needs some of the problems that the communities are faced with from a law enforcement perspective,” he added.
The Crime Chief further noted that the Police Force has assisted the youths in a number of communities.
“With regards to training, we have scout groups, we have youth groups, we have established Zara computer centers in some of the various police divisions. We want to work with the youth, we know that they are the future of tomorrow, and we want to steer them in a positive direction, we want to steer them along a straight path. We’d want to prevent them from living a life of crime or from choosing to engage in criminal activities. So we have been working with the young persons across the length and breadth of Guyana.”
“We have been working with the parents also, we have been supporting some of them with school uniform. During the Christmas period, we would distribute hampers to some of those individuals who are in these vulnerable areas and there will be no stopping. We will continue to work with our young people in order to prevent crime and to ensure that they go along a positive path.”
Blanhum also noted that the Force has conducted several community outreaches throughout this year, which were spearheaded by the Police Commissioner, Clifton Hicken.
