OPR section destroyed by fire but DPP office saved

-Prime Minister says investigations are ongoing into how the fire started
Major losses were on Saturday avoided after quick response from the Guyana Fire Service
resulted in the fire at the Guyana Police Force’s Office for Professional Responsibility (OPR)
being brought under control. This resulted in the saving of the Office of the Director of Public
Prosecutions (DPP) which is housed in the same building in Eve Leary.
Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, and Parliamentary Affairs
and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira, along with several other government ministers were on
the ground.
Prime Minister Phillips speaking to the media said, “we have been able to save the DPP part of
the building. So, the fire service is doing their work and you do not expect, based on what we are
seeing here, for the fire to spread beyond where it is right now.”
He added, “the investigation will help us to determine whether it is coincidental or if there is
some other motive or reason behind this fire. So, we need to allow the fire service and the police
and law enforcement agencies to do their work… the important thing right now is that we have
the fire under control, not likely to spread beyond this point and the investigation into what may
be the cause of the fire has started.”

Benn said that the fire has placed the operations of the OPR and DPP in disarray. He expressed
the view that Guyana is experiencing a “trial by fire.” “It appears that a subliminal message is
being put around the areas starting from some fire-technic minded person in the United States
and maybe, perhaps much more than likely that the incidents we see and the timings at which
they occur are related to those more than subliminal messages about Georgetown burning if the
PPP do not do whatever,” Benn suggested.
The minister went on to declare, “We will stand firm here; we will make sure that the work of
our government and the development of our country proceeds.” Commissioner of Police (ag),
Nigel Hoppie noted that despite the loss of documents in the OPR, the force has always had a
backup in place. “We always have contingency systems in place but of course, any fire initially
would affect us going forward but together as a team, we will put systems in place to ensure that
it does not hamper our progress in addressing the issues at hand… most, if not all the cases have
connections to several divisions also because as you are aware, we have decentralised Office of
Professional Responsibility, that is in every region throughout our country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Fire Officer, Kalamadeen Edoo said the fire service received the call about the
fire at 13:50hrs which saw fire tenders from the Central, Campbellville, Alberttown and West
Ruimveldt fire stations responding to the scene. The building which was under fire housed OPR,
the Office of the DPP, Police Headquarters Barracks and the construction section of the force.