$ 15.3B budgeted for Police
A recently refurbished Aurora Police Station on the Essequibo Coast that cost $ 40.3M.
Kaieteur News – The amount of $ 15.3B has been allocated for Guyana Police in the national budget of 2021. This was announced by the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, when the national budget presented $ 383.1B on Friday.
Dr. outlined Singh in his presentation are some of the main areas where the $ 15.3B slate is to be spent. He noted, for example, that the sum of $ 300M will be used to acquire more marine vehicles and ships to expand the existing Police fleet across Guyana. In addition, over $ 800M will be used for the rehabilitation, maintenance and construction of police stations.
Police stations for work include those at Providence, Ruimveldt, Cove and John, Albion, Wales and Whim, according to Minister Singh.
The idea of upgrading police stations had started with the previous administration back in 2019 under the then Minister of Public Safety, Khemraj Ramjattan. That year a total of $ 821M was allocated for police station restoration and modernization.
In 2020, it was reported that work was underway on several police stations and another $ 1B was allocated for this during the emergency budget presented by the current administration.
Apart from his plan to continue to fund this initiative, Dr. Singh said his government will also use $ 95M to resuscitate the community policing groups also known as ‘neighborhood police’.
According to the Minister, the neighborhood police program was dormant for the past five years and his government plans to make them visible again within communities throughout Guyana.
He also highlighted in his presentation that some, of the total allocated, will be used to train approximately 824 police ranks to improve the Force’s investigative and forensic capability. He also said those ranks will benefit from 20 courses plus foreign training.