Anti-crime drive
Setting up of SWAT team could be speeded up
Stabroek News
August 18, 2002

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The Guyana government is continuing to receive assistance from Scotland Yard in the restructuring of the Police Force and on implementing the anti-crime initiatives, announced earlier this year.

Earlier this month, three teams were in Guyana to confer with the task force headed by Deputy Commissioner, Winston Felix, one of which advises on Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Teams. The setting up of a SWAT team had been one of the initiatives announced by President Bharrat Jagdeo on June 7.

President Jagdeo had said that the establishment of the SWAT team was one of the longer-term measures. However, with the police being outgunned by the bandits in recent encounters, there is a possibility that the establishment of the team could be speeded up.

Sources have told Stabroek News that a team from the police force has been working with the Lands and Surveys Department to identify a suitable area for setting up a training facility, where prospective members for the SWAT unit will undergo their training. The sources said that such a facility was sorely needed to address a deficiency in police training as hitherto very few members of the force had been exposed to live automatic gunfire, which is now a reality when the police confront bandits these days.

Some of the guidelines which govern US SWAT teams, according to information available on the Internet, state that volunteers must have served a minimum of three years in the force to be eligible for consideration for the team. The team selection process involves extensive testing. All applicants must pass physical agility, written, oral, and psychological tests. In addition, applicants must successfully pass a stringent background investigation. The primary mission of the SWAT team is to save lives and SWAT officers are trained to respond to a wide variety of situations including officer and citizen rescues, hostage rescues, barricaded subjects, armed suicidal subjects, and crowd control situations.

Meanwhile, another area receiving attention is the procurement of protective gear and weaponry. As a result of the preparatory work that was done in identifying the sources of these items and the required specifications, informed sources said, Felix would be better able to accomplish his task of speeding up their procurement. Felix was instructed at a meeting last Tuesday between President Bharrat Jagdeo and senior police officers to proceed overseas to procure the items.

Last week, the ranks at the Brickdam Impact Base voiced concern about the lack of proper equipment to do their work. One of the issues reportedly raised was the need for an ambulance and sources said that urgent consideration was being given to this. Also, Stabroek News understands that particular attention was to be paid to ensuring that the vehicles assigned to the force were maintained at a high operational level.

One of the Scotland Yard teams also consulted with the task force overseeing the implementation of the recommendations for restructuring the force accepted from the Symons Report. These recommendations include the establishment of an intelligence unit on which policing would be based.

Another initiative underway is the beefing up of the support of Community Policing Groups, and deputy divisional commanders of police now have responsibility for liaising with the Community Policing Groups, including assigning personnel to accompany these groups on patrol.