President Dr Irfaan Ali said on Friday that Guyana is building a people-centred, technology-driven national security architecture that will rely heavily on artificial intelligence, predictive policing, integrated databases and nationwide surveillance systems by 2030.
Speaking at a press conference at the Office of the President, Ali said the government was moving to establish one of the world’s most modern and integrated security systems, built around partnerships with international allies and institutions.
He said the framework would combine technology, intelligence, governance, resilience, communities and civil society into a unified structure, with citizen trust and service delivery as central pillars.
“Our security must be able to integrate in the global system,” Ali said, noting that digitisation, digital passports, digital identification cards and advanced information systems were becoming essential features of modern security networks.
The President said the system would be anchored by seven pillars, including technology, intelligence, governance, resilience and citizen services.
He outlined plans for smart police stations operating with minimal staffing, AI-powered policing tools, online crime reporting platforms, integrated national databases, mobile policing applications and real-time command and control centres.
Regional command centres are already being established and linked through a national platform that allows varying levels of access for different agencies, he said.
Community policing outposts are also being expanded and upgraded with modern technology to improve response times, Ali added.
A major focus of the strategy is the use of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to prevent crime, he said.
“AI is going to be an important part of our national security operations… the target is national surveillance and safe country infrastructure,” President Ali said.
He pointed to planned capabilities including predictive crime analytics, facial recognition, behavioural analysis, automated threat detection, smart surveillance systems, AI-supported traffic management, and drone and robotics integration.
Ali said the technologies would strengthen emergency response, border security and real-time threat detection during major public events.
He also said Guyana aimed to achieve nationwide CCTV coverage by 2030 under its Safe Country initiative.
“As you know, we have already invested, and we are investing in CCTV coverage under our Safe Country programme. We intend by 2030 to have full nationwide coverage. We also intend to integrate an intelligent traffic system into this network,” he said.
He said smart traffic cameras had already contributed to reductions in speeding and accidents in monitored areas.
The president added that artificial intelligence was being used to identify repeat traffic offenders within seconds, with data feeding directly into the judicial system.
He also announced pilot mobile enforcement units capable of automatically detecting vehicles with outstanding traffic violations.
During a recent pilot exercise along the East Coast Demerara, more than 250 vehicles with outstanding tickets were identified in a single operation, he said.
“No human can interfere with the system because the system will pick it up, document it on a screen, put it in a database, and then even turn on the sirens to stop the vehicle,” the president said.
