Police officers welcome integrity testing, but…!!!

Apr 29, 2014 News

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There are some grumblings among senior officers of the Guyana Police Force over the recent pronouncements by President Donald Ramotar on the possibility of integrity tests within the law enforcement organization.
While the officers have welcomed the President’s pronouncement as part of efforts to arrest corruption within the Guyana Police Force, they are calling for their political superiors to lead by example if they are serious about rooting out the scourge that has been plaguing several state institutions.

The possibility of integrity tests for Senior Police Officers was hinted at by President Donald Ramotar during his address at this year’s Police Officers Conference, which concluded last Saturday.
“In future, appointments to some senior positions and some new organisations that we are creating, there must be some form of integrity testing.
Some of this is happening in some areas already but we have to ensure that the Force that is empowered to ensure our safety from criminals are themselves free from such elements,” said Ramotar.
While the media highlighted the President’s position, officers did not discuss the initiative in earnest during plenary sessions at the conference.
“We did not really follow up on it because it was just implied, but we cannot escape the fact that it is a possibility,” a senior police officer told this newspaper.
Some senior officers are making a fuss over the situation, and while it is not official, this newspaper was reliably informed that the officers have been tasked with reviewing the President’s entire address, with specific reference to the subject of integrity testing.
“There are teams that were established to look into the speeches of the President and the Minister of Home Affairs and come up with suggestions. I want to think that the team looking at the President’s address will come up with a position on the issue,” the officer said.
This newspaper could not get a comment from Commissioner of Police (Ag) Seelall Persaud as he is out of the country on his first overseas engagement since taking over as head of the Force.
As was expected, there were mixed reactions to President Ramotar’s utterances, since he was not definitive on what method will be used to carry out the tests.
In the past, integrity testing in Guyana took the form of a lie detector test which has been the subject of much controversy in Guyana ever since it was first used in relation to ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU).
Several operatives from that unit lost their jobs after failing the tests.
In the case of the Guyana Police Force, it will be used to influence the promotion of all senior ranks.
This formula has however, not gone down well with some senior police officers.
“If you don’t have good and sufficient evidence of a person being engaged in corrupt activities, why would you want them to go through this?” one officer questioned.
“There are people who are incorruptible and who failed similar tests because of the structure of the tests. It could be that they were very uncomfortable answering the questions, so why affect someone’s career in a negative way because of a lie detector test?” the officer added.
On the other side of the coin, the President’s approach to greater openness and transparency, especially as it relates to the wide held view that the Guyana Police Force is riddled with corruption, has been welcomed.
One columnist wrote in this newspaper that “By signaling the possibility of integrity testing, Donald Ramotar is sending a message to the Guyana Police Force that  he expects honesty to be the hallmark of police work and that this will be an important consideration in future promotions in the Guyana Police Force.”
However, some senior officers referred to the address given by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, who urged them to lead by example to eliminate corruption and other wrongdoings in the Force.
“We want people like the Minister to lead by example and make the findings public,” one officer told Kaieteur News.
He reminded of evidence that came out of the Linden Commission of Inquiry, which revealed that there were instances where there were serious questions about the minister’s engagement with a senior police officer on the day when three persons were shot dead during protest actions in the bauxite mining town.
“We had the case of the Minister’s role coming under intense scrutiny and it was found that there were some inconsistencies as it related to his contact with the Police Commander at the time. This was no lie detector, this was an inquiry and it brought out many things about some persons’ integrity,” the officer stated.
He noted that with all the corruption in government agencies and by state officers being exposed, to single out the Guyana Police Force alone is being discriminatory.
“Integrity is uprightness and it can’t be for one and not for others. We cannot deal with it in isolation. Yet we are going about our business as if nothing had happened,” he added.

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