The need to arrest the issue of crime in Guyana is a long-standing problem that successive governments have not been able to drastically overhaul says Executive Member of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr. David Hinds.
According to the political activist, this is largely because the escalation of crime is directly and indirectly linked to the socio-economic condition of the country at large. But with oil on the horizon, Dr. Hinds is of the firm conviction that the political parties of the day need to take real action in confronting this social ill.
The WPA Executive Member said, “We hear from the leadership of the police force that crime has declined and they produce figures to support their claim but crime is not just about numbers. It is about the impact on the citizens. So long as citizens continue to be the victims of crimes and live in fear of criminals roaming the country seemingly without much fear of the police, we cannot claim to have put a dent on crime.”
Dr. Hinds said it means, therefore, that political parties must come up with a holistic approach to dealing with crime.
Further to this, the political activist told this news agency that such an approach must include better policing, better relationships between police and communities and a linkage between the production of jobs and the decrease of crime especially among the poor.
“The latter point I think is critical. While we talk about all the grand plans for the use of the oil and gas revenue, we should also talk about short term plans to arrest the question of everyday crimes. We cannot talk about economic development outside of a solution to the continued rise in crime,” Dr. Hinds posited.
With elections just mere months away, he said that citizens should demand every political party on the election campaign trail detail their plans for addressing crime.
