The Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Tuesday announced that Assistant Commissioner Khali Pareshram has been appointed as the new Head of the Strategic Planning Unit (SPU) removing him as Commander of Regional Police Division 4’C’. According to the GPF, in this role, Pareshram will oversee the development and implementation of long-term strategic plans.
On Tuesday, the GPF said that Senior Superintendent Michael Kingston has been assigned as the Commander of Regional Police Division 4’C’. Kingston’s new role involves overseeing policing operations in the region. Additionally, Superintendent Nicola Kendall has been named Head of Strategic Implementation for Police Reform.
In July several changes were made in the command structure of the GPF, which was cited as a move to implement a series of significant changes aimed at enhancing efficiency and building capacity within the force. These reassignments, the GPF had stated were designed to strengthen leadership and drive forward key reforms including its strategic plan.
Superintendent Nicola Kendall
On July 5, the GPF announced that three senior ranks were rotated to foster efficiency within the organisation. In addition, this shake-up, according to the GPF is necessary as part of the modernisation plan for the force.
Deputy Commissioner ‘Administration’ Calvin Brutus was reassigned as Head the Special Branch while Deputy Commissioner ‘Operations’ Ravindradat Budhram was placed charge of ‘Administration’. In addition, the Head of the Special Branch, Assistant Commissioner Errol Watts has taken over operational duties from Brutus.
Assistant Commissioner Khali Pareshram
However, after the news broke about the shake-up, the GPF had initially stated that: “Relative to several social media posts and online news reports about a ‘shake-up’ in the top brass of the Guyana Police Force, please note that the rotation of officers is a management tool that is used to create and foster efficiency in an organisation.”
The GPF’s Strategic Plan 2022-2026 is geared at transforming the law enforcement organisation into a contemporary one through the development of its human resources and other capabilities at levels.
Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn had stated that in order to implement the strategic plan, officers must have the right attitude and mindset.
“There’s a lot of things going for contemporary policing interventions in relation to information technology and in particular training, but it will all go to naught if you have the physical assets and the vehicles and the best legally trained and other trained managers…nothing matters if, at the middle level, the purpose, the willingness, the activity, and the direction do not integrate [with] what has to happen at the bottom in terms of actions to guarantee security.”
