The United States Government has invested an additional US$850,000 into a local project aimed at strengthening the country’s criminal justice system.
The project is aimed at building capacity of agencies involved in the criminal justice system including the Guyana Police Force and the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecution.
The project, which began in 2016, was slated to end in 2019.
However, the US Government, through the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, has extended its financial support for the project until March 2021.
As such, the US Embassy committed an additional US$850,000 to the project.
Therefore, in full, the Embassy will invest over US$17M in Guyana’s justice system through this project.
So far, the project has built the Police Force’s forensic video analysis capacity, which has already resulted in the successful prosecution of several cases.
Additionally, the project has provided training and technical assistance in case management, including major crimes, crime scene management, evidence management and chain of custody, and law enforcement supervisory skills.
By the end of this project, the Embassy intends for Guyana to have a cadre of police officers and justice sector officials who will successfully pursue and complete effective evidence-based prosecutions.
