Commissioner of Police (ag) Nigel Hoppie says members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) will continue to educate the population all the while enforcing the measures in place to guard against the novel coronavirus.
He was at the time speaking during a call-in programme on Tuesday evening entitled “The Police and You.”
Accompanied by Commander for Regional Division 4 ‘A’ Simon McBean, the Top Cop fielded a number of questions from the public on a wide range of issues, particularly about the current Covid-19 measures.
Moderator, Stan Gouveia – who is also the Deputy Director of the Force’s Communications Unit, said a lot of persons have been complaining about the existing measures, noting that they are tired of staying home and of being restricted as it relates to social gatherings.
But the Police Commissioner contended that the enforcement actions will continue given that there is no drastic change in the prevailing Covid-19 environment.
“We’re gonna continue with our enforcement activities and those found culpable will be face in front the court,” the Top Cop said.
Commander McBean added: “we’ll keep enforcing, we’ll keep educating.”
Expanding on this point, the Top Cop made reference to Operation Covi-Curb which is intended to educate the public on the Covid-19 guidelines.
“When operation Covi-Curb was launched in October…we adopted a soft approach in terms of educating individuals…The point I’d like to make is that we have to continually speak with people, distribute mask, make them aware of the importance of not just protecting themselves but also protecting the lives of the other citizens that they would encounter,” he reasoned.
“So, there is a regulation, there is a guideline, there is an order that is existing which says that the curfew commences at 22:30hrs, we expect adherence to that.”
Several other issues addressed during the programme include the police’s crime statistics which the Top Cop maintained are legitimate and the strengthening of the Force’s capacity to respond to crime.
