The Guyana Police Force must be reformed

Dear Editor,
I received on Facebook a posting from a friend bemoaning the fact that some in the Guyana Police Force are corrupt; and in his judgement, if reformation does not take place within the Force, Guyana is doomed.
I readily agree with him on this one; because, for real progress to take place, Guyana must have an efficient and well-managed Force that would cater for the needs of everyone, and a society that we can all feel free to live in. Because, what would our society be if we are not safe, or are unable to trust the persons who swore to protect and serve us? It is like spinning a top in the mud.
To emphasise his point, my friend highlighted a recent robbery in the community where he lives, the details of which showed the involvement of members of the Police Force. He contended that the robbery was – as we would say in Guyanese parlance – “too neat a crime” not to have had the “expert assistance” of the Police.
And this has been our lament ever since; that is, the evidence of the corrupt activities of members of our law enforcement organisation.
The lawlessness and corrupt activities of certain members of the Force are ever present, manifesting themselves in many ways, such as in the use of firearms at parties to scare off enemies. I am talking about the gangster-type cop who sports his service weapon at drunken parties where gunplay and other open brawls become the norm. Then there is the sickening truth of “guns being for hire”, where service weapons end up in the hands of criminals, who use them to create havoc in society. All these and more are just a few examples of the degradation that has overtaken our Police Force.
Now, I hate to highlight faults involving members of the Force, and not make suggestions for improvement of the Force; or, in its truest sense, make room for a total overhaul of the Force, if need be. So, I make the following suggestions:
1. First on our reformation list are strict rules governing recruitment to the Force. There must be strict scrutiny of candidates for the job. I am speaking of strict guidelines akin to one going for a visa to travel to the USA. Sound background checks must be made, and there should be careful scrutiny of character references of the new recruits.

2. The Force should be well trained, and fully equipped with the necessary materials to do an effective job – vehicles and other service hardware to do a proper job. Our Police should be on the scene of a crime almost immediately, and not take the usual hours or even days to visit the crime scene, by which time valuable evidence would have been tampered with, or the criminals would have made good their escape.

3. There should be room for continual upgrading of our Policemen. In-service training and other staff developmental programmes should be used to equip them with additional knowledge and strategies to enable them to be better able to deal with crime and criminals. There are also sensitive issues, such as domestic violence and other spousal-abuse matters which require Police intervention, for which they need proper training.
4. Our Police men and women must be properly paid. I am not asking for super-salaries, because that would bring in the factor of the one paying the piper calling the tune, and that is not what we would like to see take place in our Police Force. The members of our Force must not be paid super salaries, but they must be paid comfortable salaries commensurate with other members of the public service. This will reduce the level of corruption that presently exists.
5. Academic qualifications must crucially be shown at the time of recruitment. In that way, we must ensure that we are fitted with individuals who are mentally sound to lead, in order that the Force does not go into the realm of mediocrity. Too often, we see the rejects of society and school dropouts who can only sport a birth certificate and nothing else being recruited to the Force. This impedes the development of a well-educated and well-trained Force. Our Police ranks must be able to write a proper report, one that can withstand scrutiny in a court of law.
6. Police officers who bully persons in society by carelessly threatening them with their service weapons should immediately be weeded out of the Force. And others who take their service weapons to drunken parties or use them for any purpose other than those for which they are intended should be given marching orders.
7. There should be an active and sustained Police presence in crime hotspots. I am also advocating regular and sustained stop-and-search action as well as surprise raids.
8. But far more important is that the Police Force should be free from political, racial, religious or other factors of interference. The Police Force should not become tainted, or be used as a tool of any political party to conduct nefarious activities. That is the dangerous road we have travelled for many years now – having a Force that is influenced and/or dictated to by a political party. This nonsense has to stop, and the time is now!
The Police Force, though paid by the state, is not an organisation of, or one at the behest of, any political party; rather, the Police Force is an organisation set aside by law to do its duties unimpeded and uninterrupted by politics.
Our Police Force could be reformed, but only when standards and norms are put in place; there should be a definite ‘no’ to political influence in the Force.
Police must do Police work, and not be a puppet of any regime. Only then can we have a Force that is well equipped to carry out its constitutional mandate. A new and reformed Force in a new and enlightened Guyana is what we are all looking forward to.

Respectfully,
Neil Adams