The new Police Commissioner

Mar 31, 2014 Editorial

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It is no secret that Kaieteur News is not welcome in certain quarters including among the top brass of the Guyana Police Force.  Legitimate queries for basic public safety information are answered by stonewalling and sometimes downright refusal to respond to matters of public interest.
Any upsurge in crime and violence requires a more robust response than the usual platitudes and ambivalent attitudes by stakeholders.  Virtually unknown in this country is the level of condemnation and demands for concrete and sustainable strategies by the ministry responsible for public safety and security.  What appears to be the accepted way of dealing with the alarming and disruptive trends is the application of piecemeal solutions more reflective of knee jerk reactions.
Countries are losing their young men between the exploitative ages of 15 and 25 who are the victims and perpetrators of crime and violence, and who provide fertile ground for recruitment into criminal gangs.  Guyana is no different.  Citizens need to know what sustainable measures are being applied to stem this haemorrhaging of our human capital, particularly with the emergence of transnational organized crime which has impacted many societies in the forms of money laundering, trafficking in arms, drugs and persons and their use in financing terrorist activities.
Citizens must keep in focus the immediate and long term impacts of pervasive corruption which is just as serious as those crimes against the person and property which are accompanied by physical violence.  Corruption in whatever form poses the single greatest threat to national and human development since it impedes foreign investment and tourism, denies access to employment, and educational opportunities, and discourages the accumulation of assets.  The absence of a procurement body facilitates the diversion of resources from public works projects to friends and cronies, at the expense of the education, health, and social services sectors.  Corruption undermines democracy while at the same time destroying the relationship of trust between people and the State.
Therefore it is a reasonable expectation that the incoming Commissioner of Police as a former crime chief would upon his appointment be professionally disposed to provide the populace with his strategy for dealing with corruption and professional misconduct allegations in the Guyana Police Force.  He might also wish to address certain important issues of direct relevance to law enforcement like a crime prevention action plan complete with the strategies to prevent, detect and confront acts of crime and violence.  However it should not be believed that the mere existence of a crime prevention strategy is the end all since it is only the beginning of a process which is intended to respond positively to concerns about: the numbers of incidents reported to the police; victim incidents reported in victimization surveys; reported levels of fear and insecurity in public surveys; disaggregation, availability, analysis, communication and use of crime information.
The citizens would like to know from the new commissioner if the Force’s crime prevention policies and strategies will be sustained over the medium or long term with a renewed mandate, or even a change of minister or a new government.  We need to know if the GPF is guided by an action plan for the prevention of youth involvement violence and crime and that this will be sustained.  People would be encouraged by cross-sectoral collaboration among government agencies, and a more meaningful private sector participation in crime prevention strategies at national level.  The new commissioner might wish to share his thoughts on whether his Force will be paying attention to collaborating on post-sentence or post-custody rehabilitation and prevention programmes.  As a long serving police officer, the commissioner’s views on citizens and other stakeholders’ perception of police effectiveness, respect for human rights would be very welcome.
It would be interesting to hear if as crime chief any crime prevention initiatives were ever evaluated and if the findings disaggregated by geographical area, age, gender and/or ethnic and social grouping, and if those findings have been used to adjust the initiative as needed.  The commissioner must say whether he will be communicating his crime prevention effectiveness in areas such as lower levels of crime, victimization and insecurity, improved community capacity for public safety, and increased youth participation, etc. to the public on a regular basis.
What all of the above has been trying to articulate in other words is that we expect to be told what the incoming commissioner’s vision for moving the Guyana Police Force forward is, since he would have had some time preparing for his new role.

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