Presidential Guards thrill audience at Drill Competition

Ranks from various units within the Guyana Police Force put on a spectacular show on Friday afternoon at the Tactical Services Unit Drill Square, Eve Leary, when the Annual Drill Competition Finals were held.
This year’s competition saw the participation of five teams, including two female teams. The event was attended by senior, junior and former members of the Force as well as civilians, mostly relatives of the participants.
The participating teams were the Presidential Guard, Tactical Services Unit (TSU) and A Division (Georgetown-East Bank Demerara) in the male category; while the two female teams; B Division (Berbice) and Special Constabulary, competed against each other.
The programme which faced a 30-minute delay before commencement, went on for almost three hours, during which the audience was

thrilled by spectacular performances by the five teams.
The female teams were the first to showcase their drill techniques followed by their male competitors. The first team to perform was the Special Constabulary, followed by the team from B Division, putting on a great display that pushed them to the top spot in their category.
Even though the efforts of the female ranks were lauded and received excellent responses from the audience, it was the male teams that stole the show with their sharp drill moves. The first male team to display their techniques was the TSU followed by the Presidential Guard and then the team from A Division.
While the routines for the latter two were similar, the Presidential Guard team was a crowd favourite and rightly so. With a display of sharp precision and coordinated manoeuvres, they emerged the winners in the competition, bagging the top spot in the male category. The President Guard team will now have bragging rights as the Force’s Best Drill Team for the next year or so.
In announcing the winners, Chief Judge, retired Police Superintendent Franklin Mingo disclosed that the teams were judged on the foot and arms drills in the various exercises and their instructors were judged on the word of command and personal drills.
According to Mingo, it was a keen competition of drilling, which shows there are members of the Force who possess the art of drilling. “We saw some beautiful drills when we talk about flare… all the squads did well in the different flares and it shows they understand,” he stated.
In the female category, B Division copped the Best Team with 80.6 points while Special Constabulary scored 76 points. The Best Female Instructor was from B Division as well, with 16.3 points, barely beating Special Constabulary who got 16 points.
As it relates to the male category for the Best Team prize, the Presidential Guard secured the top spot with 93 points, while A Division

came in second with 85.6 points, followed by TSU in third place with 85 points.
The Best Male Instructor went to Corporal Semple from the Presidential Guard who scored a perfect 20 points. The TSU managed to cop the second best instructor spot with 18 points, placing A Division in third with 17.6 points.
The Drill Competition within the Police Force was established to produce Policemen and women who are proud, alert and obedient; and those who bring a level of discipline using oral and silent command. The competition is also used to enhance drills in the Force and also to provide the basis for team work.