Lack of staff, inadequate office space hinder work of PCA – Chairman

Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), Justice (retd) William Ramlall, has said the PCA is understaffed and working out of inadequate office space, factors which are hindering the work of the authority.
In his 2022 report, which was recently handed over to the National Assembly, Justice Ramlal pointed out that the PCA has vacancies for three investigators, a secretary, and a legal officer. And while he has made several requests for these vacancies to be filled, nothing has been done.
He said the appointment of a legal officer, who should be a qualified and practising lawyer, would “certainly reduce” the Chairman’s workload, so that he can have adequate time to perform his statutory functions.
Justice Ramlall pointed out, “The non-statutory functions can easily be performed by the legal officer. At the moment, I am performing all statutory and non-statutory functions, and administrative functions with the assistance of my administrative officer.
“These vacancies need to be filled with urgency, since this shortfall of staff is negatively affecting the investigative capability of the Police Complaints Authority”, Justice Ramlall pointed out.
In addition, the retired Judge said that, since his appointment in 2018, he has made several requests to the appropriate authorities for proper accommodation.
According to him, Section 16 of the Police Complaints Authority provides for confidentiality in taking complaints, but the current state of the office does not allow for this. He highlighted that the office is subject to constant flooding, and although some work was done to stop the flooding, nothing seems to have been achieved in this regard.
“These are not conditions conducive to work,” he declared.
The PCA is located at Lot 59 Brickdam Stabroek, Georgetown in a building that also houses the Office of the Ombudsman, the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, and the Guyana Bar Association. It received 194 complaints between January 1 andDecember 31, 2022; of which  36 were rejected, 52 were closed following preliminary investigations, and three  were each forwarded to thePolice Commissioner and the  Director of Public  Prosecutions respectively. There are 106 open complaints in total.
The PCA is an independent organisation that receives and looks into public complaints regarding Police misconduct, as well as oversees the investigation of any criminal offences allegedly committed by Force members.