Ambassador Hardt Meets with CBSI International Visitors

September 12, 2012

GEORGETOWN –U.S. Ambassador D. Brent Hardt met with two Guyanese officials who visited the United States in from August 18 to September 7, 2012, to participate in an International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and the Department of State.  Guyana Police Force Superintendent Errol Watts and Community Police Officer Rawle Blyden were selected, together with several Caribbean regional counterparts, to represent Guyana in an exchange program on "Ensuring Citizen Security in U.S. Communities." The project emphasized the importance of improving citizen security to build on the strong partnerships the United States has built through the Merida Initiative, the Central American Citizen Security Partnership, the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), and the Colombia Strategic Development Initiative (CSDI).  It focused on how to strengthen institutions that support and sustain the rule of law, address the root causes of crime, and guarantee long-term public security.  

The two Guyanese participants visited New York, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Kansas City to examine community policing efforts and strategies that nurture a culture of lawfulness through community engagement. They explored the challenges police officers face in maintaining public order while protecting the rights of individuals, as well as the ramifications for communities that have lost confidence in their police forces and strategies to regain that trust. The participants also met with citizen action groups to assess public needs and priorities, including neighborhood crime prevention programs, and examined programs in schools, the community, and workplaces that promote the values and practices that make a community governable.

During a September 12 meeting at the U.S. Embassy, Ambassador Hardt thanked Superintendent Watts and Mr. Blyden for their active participation in the program and heard their perspectives on their meetings in the United States.  He encouraged them to share their experiences with their colleagues and work in partnership with the United States to apply and adapt the policing approaches and techniques in Guyana. He noted that President Obama's Caribbean Basin Security Initiative has a strong focus on problems of at-risk youth, and that USAID's Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment program was now working in Guyana to bring young people into the workforce. 

Mr. Errol Watts is a Superintendent of Police with the Guyana Police Force and Deputy Commander of “D” Division - West of the Demerara River and a portion of the East Bank of the Essequibo. Mr. Rawle Blyden is the Vice Chairman of the Community Policing Organization of Guyana, “A” Division - Georgetown and the East Bank of the Demerara River including the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri. 

The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is the flagship professional exchange program of the Department of State, which annually brings to the United States approximately 5,000 foreign nationals from all over the world to meet and confer with their professional counterparts and to experience America firsthand. The visitors are current or potential leaders in government, politics, the media, education, the arts, business and other fields. Among the thousands of distinguished individuals who have participated in the IVLP since its inception almost seven decades ago, are more than 290 current and former Chiefs of State and Heads of Government, 2,000 cabinet-level ministers, and many, many other distinguished leaders from the public and private sectors.  Over 100 Guyanese nationals have participated in a range of IVLPs over the years.