“It’s misguided” – VP on ‘Policia’ labelled GPF vehicles
…says GPF instructed to change wording to English
The “Policia” markings placed on vehicles belonging to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was a misguided move and it is a blunder which the law enforcement body was instructed to correct.
Sharing this position was Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo during a recent public engagement. After the vehicles were labelled in the foreign language, it was greeted with heavy criticism from sections of the population.
The word “Policia” will be removed from GPF vehicles
Jagdeo contended that while the Force’s emblem remains intact, the word Police should be clearly written since Guyana is an English-speaking nation.
“It’s misguided. The Police should have never put policia there. It’s not the emblem. It’s just the name. They were instructed to change that. They must put Police…The key thing is Police. Guyana is English speaking and they must put Police,” the VP outlined.
He contended that the word Police can be featured in other languages using a smaller font so that it is visible to foreigners.
“They can put in small letters policia and in Portuguese, Spanish etc because the people who are here need to [know] what our Police are so that they don’t get away when the Police put on the siren.”
When the change was first observed, the GPF had said it is part of its strategic and inclusive approach to enhance service delivery, aimed at providing a more comprehensive and efficient professional Police service. Another reason was in light of the growing number of Spanish-speaking foreign nationals. (G12)
