“We cannot remain stagnant”, dynamics of Guyana is changing – top cop to ranks

…says aiming for security forces presence in all new communities

With new housing schemes being developed across Guyana, acting Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken says that efforts are being made to ensure that there is a Joint Services presence in all these new communities as a crime fighting tool.
He made this remark was addressing the opening ceremony of the Inspectors’ and Sergeants’ Conference on Wednesday morning at the Police Officers’ Mess Annexe, Eve Leary.

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn conducting the ceremonial inspection ahead of Wednesday’s opening ceremony for the Inspectors and Sergeants Conference

The four-day conference is being held after a 12-year hiatus under the theme: “Developing Middle Management For Greater Efficiency Through Strategic Partnership, Accountability and Performance”.
According to the Top Cop, the dynamic of the country is changing every day and if the Police Force is not contemporary then it is going to be challenged by the changes that are taking place. To this end, he said force is developing it capacity to operate in an oil producing nation.
“We cannot remain stagnant…we have to be integrally involved in the developmental process [of the country]. And so, we are currently working out where we gonna relocate, reposition, rebuild; establish new police stations and outposts so we can adequately fight crime looking at the frontiers that are gonna be joined and the new villages that are gonna be opened,” Hicken stated.

Adequately protected
To this end, the Police Commissioner disclosed that the GPF through the Home Affairs Ministry is working with directly with the Housing Ministry to ensure that these new communities are adequately protected.
“We are doing smart policing too not only in the way in which we grew but in an advisory position too… We have been advising, through our Ministry of course, that we plant Joint Services Members in all of the new established communities as part of a crime fighting tool,” he noted.

A section of the gathering at the Inspectors and Sergeants Conference on Wednesday

This year, the Police Force will be focusing heavily on operational priorities, performance, professionalism and accountability. In fact, strategies have been identified to mitigate against crime and violence particularly clamping down in illegal firearms and drugs in the streets of Guyana.
Already, according to Commission Hicken, some 14 illegal firearms have been off of the road while a quantity of cocaine and marijuana were also seized in the first month of this year alone.

“We want to have safe communities… [So,] we stepped up policing, visibility, public roadblocks, engagements with the communities and we’re now seeing the necessity of a partnership with community,” he posited.

Role and responsibility
Critical to this partnership, the action Top Cop outlined, is for inspectors and sergeants, as middle-managers of the Force, to step up and shoulder their responsibilities.
“Inspectors and Sergeants, you have a role and responsibility to fight crime in your regions. Fighting crime is not CID (Criminal Investigation Department) work; fighting crime is not a [junior] officer’s job; fighting crime is not a Commander’s work only and that is why we have structures in place,” the Commissioner stated.

He pointed out that during the four-day conference, these and other issues geared towards enhance the middle-management of the Force will be highlighted and discussed. In addition, the acting Top Cop also disclosed plans to have these officers undergo skills training programmes with bilateral partners in the Caribbean as well as the United States.
Moreover, some of these inspectors and sergeants will also be sent to the Guyana Defence Force for tactical training to build on their command and control capabilities.
“At your level you’re supposed to be doing researches every day; you supposed to be looking at best practices. You are living in an era of technological development… you have to do as much research as you can do to ensure that you are contemporary. We are preparing you now during this conference… You’re gonna work harder than you’ve worked before. We’re gonna attract value in these four days and when you get back to the stations, the public which you serve, they must see a difference in how things are being done.”
“If we set the bar very high and transparent that is going to be transcend to the most junior level of this Guyana Police Force. So, what we do and how it is done is very important for us to set the standard of the force and we are doing just that…,” Commissioner Hicken stressed.

“Soft”
Also speaking on the importance of training and professional development was Home Affairs Minister Robeson Been, who said that the Police Force is “soft” in the middle. As such, he underscored the need for this four-day conference for the inspectors and sergeants.
The Minister noted that all the physical assets and resources given to the GPF will not matter if, at the middle level, the direction and willingness and ability to engage does not integrate with what needs to happen in order to guarantee and secure peace in communities.
“So, I welcome this engagement… that is sorely needed, that it gives us the ability to have introspection and retrospection as to our mission, that is gives us an opportunity to look at each other in the face – our squaddies – and those whom we relate to, as to the overall mission of our country. If peace is not guaranteed, all else will fail… This focus over the next few days allows us to have a reset of the policing and the Police Force,” Benn stated. (G8)