A few weeks ago, the Community Policing Organization of Guyana celebrated the 36th year of its existence. To mark the occasion, a number of events were held. These included public discourses and seminars, highlighting the work of CPGs and demonstrating its significance and benefits to the society.At one such seminar, Taajnauth Jadunauth, one of Guyana’s leading CPG advocates delivered a presentation entitled “enhancing CPG relations with the community”.Jadunauth is an executive member of the Enmore Community Policing group and chairman of the Enmore Station Management Committee.Recently the village of Enmore has come under scrutiny with two highly publicized murders and several break- ins committed on business places.The village’s community policing group is considered one of the most vibrant in the country and the recent events have been a cause for concern in a community that was once considered impregnable.Jadunath’s presentation at the CPG anniversary forum is timely and it was felt that it is worth publishing for the general public to digest, especially with the criticism surrounding community policing.Below is the conclusion of Jadunauth’s presentation.********(Continued from last week)It bears repetition that Community Policing is voluntary work. The active membership is already stretched to the limit just to patrol, and even that is very stressful. On top of that, members have to come out of their pockets to put gas into the vehicles and to repair the vehicles, etc. But it does not have to be like that.If my experience in the Concerned Citizens of Enmore Policing Group is anything to go by, please permit me to tell you what we did to engage our community.1) The leadership of our Group is made up of persons with integrity and includes influential businessmen, factory workers and even cane-cutters. This sends a message of inclusivity. We do not have an elite group of people lording it over the community. We talk to persons one-on-one and we encourage them into the leadership structure. This gives us credibility.2) We raise funds by co-opting influential persons in the community in our fund-raising drives: to sell tickets; to donate prizes; to donate furniture; etc. I would guess that 85% of Enmore supports our fund-raising efforts.3) We divide the community into wards and put sub-executives to head each ward. We hold meetings in each ward, thus we are able to bring out the women folk to meetings. We let them know of their vulnerability and the need for their involvement. This improves communication and feedback. In effect, we take the Group to the people.4) Operationally, we confine patrols to within wards so that members do not have to go outside of their wards or any distance away from their homes. We have a roving patrol which traverses the wider community.5) We use interlinked hand-held sets patched into a base radio which is operational between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Thus, an alarm raised over the radio by one ward is heard by all other wards at the same time, thereby making response faster and more strategic.6) After a fund-raiser, we prepare 100 statements and distribute them. It becomes a public document.7) We address certain community issues. If we cannot resolve them, we involve appropriate agencies.8) We opened a library so that we can bring young people to our Community Policing Group base.9) We have games which kids can play and a gym which young people can use.10) We sent some of our members into the Army Reserve for training.And there are a few other initiatives in place.With the exception of an initial $200,000: given by then Minister Gajraj to assist in building our base, we constructed a building and put facilities in place with funds generated from and by the community and from well-wishers outside of the community.So, we had gone beyond the ordinary to involve the community and they had responded positively. While not all Groups may be able to go it like we did, it is worth the try if we want to improve relations between CPGs and communities.Do we get cussed out? Sure! But we can go to the same persons who cuss us out and get them to buy our Bar-B-Que tickets. It is a love/hate situation, and we understand and live with that reality.What is the new reality?I have just recounted the success story. But we also have our share of problems, most of recent origin.Our Group can still raise $300,000: in two weeks from our community. But we have lost membership to migration, new housing schemes, deaths, attrition, and we have not been able to replace them fast enough. The average age of a CPG member is about 50. If the age range of current active CPG membership is anything to go by,Cheap MLB Jerseys, the major challenge is to get our youths to be involved in Community Policing and to be ready for leadership succession.In all of this, however, there needs to be a recognition that the socio-political dynamics which gave birth to vigilante groups,