After 35 years in the Police Force…Commander Vyphuis retires today

Apr 02, 2014 News

By Latoya Giles
Assistant Commissioner George Vyphuis will today retire from the Guyana Police Force having given some 35 years of service to that institution. Vyphuis, who hails from the ancient county of Berbice, has been serving as the A-Divisional Commander and Assistant Commissioner (Operations) for almost four years.

Outgoing Assistant Commissioner of Police, George Vyphuis

Vyphuis yesterday took time out from his still busy schedule to tell Kaieteur News, in an interview, about his years in the force. According to the outgoing Commander, he “never expected to reach this far”. He credited his success to always being honest and hard-working.
Vyphuis joined the force in 1979 and upon completion of his training was placed in the Traffic Department of the Brickdam Police Station. He was later transferred to the “Beat” Duty Centre, which was at the time located on Waterloo Street. After spending some time there he was transferred to the Police Public Relations and Welfare Office.
He was promoted rapidly through the ranks from Lance Corporal to Sergeant. Vyphuis remembers being the Personal Assistant for then Commissioner Laurie Lewis (deceased). According to Vyphuis, he was at the time asked to deputize for the now Acting Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud.
Vyphuis ended up being one of the longest Personal Assistants to the ‘Top Cop’. After that post he was transferred to Bartica, where he managed to get two promotions. He became the sub- division officer and spent about eight months there. It was while in Bartica that he lost his first wife.
Subsequently he returned to Georgetown, to ‘A’ division, where he functioned at various city police stations.
Vyphuis explained that it was the then Commander for A- Division who “saw” his ability and recommended that he should be given the opportunity to run his own sub-division. He was later brought to the Brickdam Station before being transferred to ‘B’ Division in Berbice. After working there he was promoted to Superintendent after skipping a rank.
Essequibo became Vyphuis’ first command post. According to him, he gained the respect as a “no-nonsense commander”. “Why I got that name was because there were a lot of young people who were doing their own thing and that behaviour was not going to go well with me…I have a passion for young people and I immediately put several systems in place to help these kids off the road,” Vyphuis explained.
In 2005, he was again promoted this time to the rank of Senior Superintendent. However, mere minutes after receiving that promotion the then Commissioner Winston Felix summoned Vyphuis to his office, to inform him about another promotion, but this time at the Immigration Office.
Vyphuis said that his experience at the Immigration Office was something he will always remember.
“It was a nightmare and I went head on into it.”
He explained that he took a close look at the system and had several meetings with the Commissioner. He said that there were about a 100,000 passports in backlog. Vyphuis said that it was through the hard work and dedication of those ranks at the Immigration Office that they managed to clear off that backlog in three months.
“The time to get a passport was about three months, which was broken down by a month…then that was later broken down by two weeks,” he explained. “During that time we started to deal with the machine-readable passports. The phasing-out period for the non-readable passport had also begun and that process will end in 2015 when all should be out of circulation.”
Vyphuis said that while at the Immigration Office he created an opportunity for persons to have face-to-face interaction with him. He opined that it was a good system for dealing with the public. Things went so well that the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce gave them an award.
Vyphuis described that department as one of the best in the Force. He was promoted to Assistant Commissioner while at the Immigration Office. He then took up a post at Berbice where he spent another few months.
He later returned to Georgetown, to ‘A’ Division. “This was one of the major posts I had assumed. Everything happens in Georgetown….at no one time you could take up the post and be laid back. As Commander you have to communicate and give directives to ranks and always be on the ball.”
After that posting at Brickdam, Vyphuis said that he was subsequently posted as Assistant Commissioner of Operations which was based at Eve Leary. He would later go back to the Brickdam Station and fill in as Divisional Commander after the sudden death of Mr. Derrick Josiah.
From today the person holding the office of Commander will be Senior Superintendent of Police Ian Amsterdam. According to Mr. Vyphuis, “Mr. Amsterdam understands the division and I know for a fact that he will be an asset to the office”.