Police Reform… Again

Against the background of trenchant criticism by some members of the opposition demanding that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) be reformed to perform its job professionally and less violently, we note the announcement that a new batch of 101 recruits has been added to the force. They were drawn from three training campuses in Georgetown, Berbice, and Essequibo, the latter two being established in the new millennium. We heard about training in the new digital ecosystem, but were they imbued with the professionalisation we have been calling for since the 1990s but without any support from that quarter? We welcome their new epiphany.
The authoritarian nature of our GPF stems from its model being the Irish Royal Constabulary (IRC) rather than the London Metropolitan Police’s (LMP) benign “bobbies” when it was formed in 1839. The LRC, originally chosen as the model by local authorities in 1838, was discarded: it was too citizen-centred. The IRC, on the other hand, was militarily centralised, heavily armed and ethnicised: it consisted mostly of Irish Protestants and English officers to ensure the imposition of order against the predominantly Catholic population. Its local mirror-image GPF was to “serve and protect” the colonial rulers against the Guyanese people. The authoritarian nature of the GPF is so embedded in its culture that nothing other than a complete overhaul and institutionalisation of new values will make any difference. This is a threshold necessary for reform encapsulated in a call for its name to be changed from a “Police Force” to a “Police Service”.
After the prison breakout of Feb 23, 2002, following PNC-led protests after the 1997 elections, the crime tsunami had escalated exponentially into an open attack on the GPF itself. In May 2003, the National Assembly unanimously approved the appointment of a Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC). Its mandate was “to examine any matter relating to the public welfare, public safety, public order, defence or security, including the structure and composition of the disciplined forces and make recommendations, generally, with a view to promoting their greater efficiency and giving effect to the need in the public interest that the composition of the disciplined forces take account of the ethnic constituents of the population.”
The recommendations of the DFC are still relevant and can be the starting point for reforms in the present. Some have been implemented but not as complete and thoroughgoing as necessary. On the matter of ethnic representativeness, it declared: “…the allaying of ethnic security fears which stems from the predominance of Afro-Guyanese presence in the GPF must be addressed…but to ensure, in so doing, that no similar insecurity fears are caused in the Afro-Guyanese community.” As ROAR had proposed in its submission, the DFC recommended, “It should be an aim (of the GPF) to achieve a force representative of the ethnic diversity of the nation without employing a quota system.” It recommended: “Ethnically diverse recruitment and promotion panels…be employed as openly and extensively as possible.” Has the geographically diverse training schools helped?
As for dealing with Police excesses, it recommended that the Coroners’ Act be reviewed in its entirety to achieve its high ideals and remedy its current deficiencies and application. A coroner’s office should be administratively established to hold inquests or enquiries where the Magistrate or Magistrates of any Magisterial district cannot do so. The office should be staffed with Magistrates with national jurisdiction and should fall under the administrative superintendence of the Chief Magistrate. Coroners should be provided with investigative resources to reduce their dependence on Police investigations. This would enable them to conduct independent investigations.
Apropos the present criticisms by the PNC opposition, it was recommended that during training, emphasis should be placed on the use of the minimum force necessary; this is always to be preferred, even in confrontations with armed and dangerous criminals. Appropriate instruction and training should be given to Policemen about the circumstances under which they may resort to the use of the firearm. The Police Complaints Authority should be provided with an investigative team consisting of trained Police investigators who would be responsible and accountable directly to the authority. Further, it was recommended that attention should be paid to strengthening the Force’s investigative capabilities and to the establishment of a sound national criminal intelligence system.
Have these recommendations been implemented? It should be evident by now that without Police reform the undoubted economic progress we are experiencing will be illusory.