With the many successes this year for the Guyana Police Force, there were also some challenges as highlighted by Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum at the launch of the Guyana Police Force Christmas Policing Plan on Tuesday.
He outlined that these challenges derived from poor quality CCTV surveillance in some areas and the bugbear issue of recidivism.
Recidivism is defined as the tendency to relapse into criminal bevaiour or activity. According to Blanhum, this year saw a number of repeat offenders back in prison or before the courts for, in some cases, the same offense they were previously arrested for.
The Crime Chief said that despite several programmes and mechanisms in place to thwart criminals from reentering the system, there seems to be no fear from criminals about the consequences of crime.
“I don’t know if any study was conducted but some of the individuals that we have interacted with would have mentioned a number of factors which had caused them to live a life of crime.” Blanhum said.
The Crime Chief said that while some persons are lucky enough to walk away from a life of crime, others have limited options. He continued, “Some of them indicated that because they have criminal records they’re unable to get employed, especially with security agencies. Rightfully so they are asking them for a police clearance.”
Blanhum said that the interactions also revealed that for many criminals coming out of prison, there is still the responsibility of their families and other financial obligations. “These persons have many people depending on them financially and it is very difficult to sometimes provide for their family so they end up back in crime as a last resort.”
Meanwhile, Blanhum highlighted another issue the force faced this year with regards to CCTV surveillance footage in key locations. Blanhum noted that in several cases there was poor quality of CCTV images obtained at crime scenes. Among the other mentions during his presentation was the still lingering challenge of police corruption and stagnant capacity building.
Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken in his remarks explained that the force’s administration will be looking at ways to improve the system.