Police reform hits major road bump… Head of Strategic Management Dept. sent on administrative leave

May 04, 2014 News

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By Dale Andrews

The reform process of the Guyana Police Force appears not likely to become a reality in the near future, especially after it suffered a major setback. The Head of the civilian oversight body has been sent on indefinite administrative leave.
A usually reliable Kaieteur News source told this newspaper that Patrick Mentore, whose appointment last year as Head of the police Strategic Management Department (SMD) was mired in controversy, has been sent off to facilitate a management audit of the department.
It appears that the Force administration is not too pleased with the department’s performance and output over the past 12 months and recommended that he be sent on administrative leave.
According to sources, Mentore has not endeared himself to the top brass of the Force because of his forthright manner of doing things. He was not inclined to withhold his observations once they are in keeping with best practices of police reform.
This aspect was very evident during his presentation at the recently held Police Officers’ Conference where officers appeared very uncomfortable with the issues he raised.
One indication of the administration’s displeasure was the inexplicable recall of a Force vehicle that former Commissioner Leroy Brumell had allocated to Mentore.
According to a senior police official, the vehicle was loaned to Mentore for a short period, pending repairs to his personal car.
But the officer is of the view that since Mentore and the other civilians were appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, that Ministry should have been providing a vehicle to support the work of the Strategic Management Department.
Kaieteur News also understands that the Strategic Management Department has not been accorded the level of respect in keeping with its functions.
When Kaieteur News contacted Mentore he did indicate that he was on vacation leave and refused to comment further.
The writing appeared to be on the wall for Mentore since early March when there were indications that his contract would not have been renewed.
At that time, the Strategic Management Department had already suffered the loss of three of its members.
Mentore and a team of nine other civilians were appointed on May 2, last year, to overlook the implementation of the reform process of the Guyana Police Force.
At present, apart from Mentore, only six of the team members remain on the job.
Last August, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had come to Mentore’s defence in response to demands for him to be relieved of his position, in light of his links to the Thomas Carroll visa racket.
The Minister, who was at the time addressing the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s security seminar at the Pegasus Hotel, had said that the administration has expressed its confidence in all the members of the SMD.
He had also reiterated his support for the work of the SMD at the just concluded Police Officers’ Conference.
However, according to Rohee, when the Institutional Modernisation Programme kicks into full operation, effective monitoring and evaluation must be consistently done in an effort to achieve the outlined objectives.
“This is an area in which the 10-man Strategic Management Department and the Force administration have to collaborate closely. The Ministry of Home Affairs requires a better working relationship between the SMD and the change facilitators of the Guyana Police Force,” he said.
This newspaper understands that the confidence that top Government officials have expressed in Mentore’s ability to move the Force’s modernization process forward has not gone down well in some quarters, since this has the potential of keeping the work of the SMD in the spotlight.
Even though the Department had enjoyed the support of outgoing Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell and several of the Force’s top brass, the continuation of this relationship is not keenly anticipated.
Mentore’s contract ended last month end. The police reform process is a five-year plan that commenced a year ago, while the members of the Strategic Management Committee were contracted for one year.
While the civilian team has done significant work on the reform process, the source said that a lot of things still remain to be done by the SMD to see the process through to a successful completion.
Contacted yesterday for a comment, Shadow Home Affairs Minister Winton Felix, a former commissioner of police, told Kaieteur News that he is of the view that the whole police reform process is not being properly managed.
He said that it is difficult to reform the organization without focusing mainly on the areas where the police interact with the public; areas such as traffic and responses to reports.
“You can do all things but the key is the response. These are the areas in my view that the reform should deal with. The public must see reform as useful,” Felix said.
With regards to the issue surrounding Mentore, the former Top Cop said that he would not blame the SMD head. “I have to blame the police force. They were not properly advised on how this thing is being run,” Felix said.
He told this newspaper that from what he has been hearing, there seems to be some objections to some of the things that Mentore has been questioning.
“Why introduce reform when the organization is not going to open up?” Felix asked.

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