Police still probing matters which fall under purview of PCA – Chairman

– chides Top Cop for violating law, asks President to intervene

Although the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is the entity legally mandated to oversee complaints and investigations pertaining to fatalities or serious injuries allegedly caused by Police ranks, it is being disregarded.
These complaints and investigations are instead being overseen by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), a department of the Guyana Police Force (GPF). This simply means that the Police Force is conducting investigations into serious complaints against its own officers.

Justice (retired) William Ramlal, the Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority, discovered this troubling situation that undermines public trust in the Police, and has reprimanded the Commissioner of Police for flagrantly breaking the law.
And with this unlawful conduct continuing unabated, Justice Ramlal has called on President Dr Irfaan Ali, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, to intervene.
“It is my recommendation that His Excellency the President makes it clear to the Commissioner of Police that he cannot continue to violate the law…”
In his 2022 report, which was recently handed over to the National Assembly, Justice Ramlal specifically referred to Sections 8 and 12 of the Police Complaints Authority Act. The former states that any person who has reasonable grounds to believe that a Police rank is guilty of any misconduct may make a complaint to the PCA, stating the particulars of the complaint; the particulars, as far as they are known, of the person against whom the complaint is made; the nature of the evidence that the complainant proposes to produce in respect of the complaint, and such other matters as may be prescribed.
“The Police Force is still investigating matters which fall under the statutory purview of Sections 8 and 12 of the Police Complaints Authority Act. There are a number of deaths in or at Police stations, but were never sent to the Police Complaints Authority in accordance with Sections 12, 13, and 14 of the Police Complaints Authority Act”, Justice Ramlal reiterated.
He said last year there were four files that were reviewed by the Police concerning the death of four persons involving the Police. But according to him, “These matters were never sent to me for investigation. These matters were all investigated by the Police in flagrant violation of the Act and then later sent to me for my report to be done pursuant to Section 15 of the said Act, which requires me sending this report to the Director of Public Prosecutions”. That report, he said, can only be done if he supervised the respective investigation.
Further, he said the Police Commissioner “must put a stop to such open violation of the law.”
While he has no power to investigate the Top Cop, Justice Ramlal said, the head of the Police Force can be investigated under Article 225 of the Constitution of Guyana.
Justice Ramlal has written, “I will be the first to concede that the Office of Professional Responsibility has a right, albeit a limited right, to investigate members of the Force. The Office of Professional Responsibility cannot be used to circumvent or defeat the statutory functions of the [PCA].”
Noting that the GPF “cannot, and should not, use the OPR to investigate complaints against its members”, Justice Ramlal has emphasised that the Police Force “cannot be a judge in its own cause, and should refer these complaints to the [PCA] for supervision of these investigations.”
The PCA received 194 complaints between January 1 and December 31, 2022, of which 36 were rejected, 52 were closed following preliminary investigations, and three each were forwarded to the Police Commissioner and the Director of Public Prosecutions respectively.
There are 106 open complaints in total.
The PCA is an independent body that receives and looks into public complaints regarding Police misconduct, as well as oversees the investigation of any criminal offences allegedly committed by members of the Force.