In a modern service, training in “police work” is not enough

Apr 07, 2015 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
The report on the recent graduation ceremony for 113 recruits of the Guyana Police Force (I thought the name was changed to Guyana Police Service) caught my attention as I read the Kaieteur News online on 1st April 2015.
I perused the article hoping to gain some information on the content of the courses making up the “rigorous training” to which recruits were said to have been subjected. Mention was made of courses such as Tactical Services and Junior Accelerated; courses a non-insider might feel comfortable of making fairly accurate guesses on their content.
The other three courses mentioned – 320, 321 and 30B suggested nothing to me, and therefore I could not ascertain how exposure to these would adequately prepare these new officers for responding competently to the contentious issues of the day. Issues that the police in Guyana are frequently required to respond to and unprofessional behaviour they are frequently accused of as they relate with citizens.
As I understand it, some of the major areas of discontent with the Guyana Police Force are:
a) Abusive behaviour by its ranks towards citizens;
b) Inability to deal appropriately with cases of spousal abuse; and
c) Corruption among its members
Some of these areas of discontent with the police are not peculiar to the Guyana Police Force, other police agencies around the world are confronted with similar problems. The difference, however, is that in the case of Guyana, citizens are not aware of the structured programs in place to give members of the police force the capacity to respond in socially acceptable ways to the said concerns.
In the United States of America, much like what obtains in Guyana, there is regular protest against police abusive behaviour against citizens – offenders and non-offenders. Thus many state police agencies have sought to use the media to inform citizens of what they are doing in an effort to improve the service provided.
For example, many departments aggressively seek to increase the number of females in their ranks, this is because female officers tend to be much less aggressive than their male counterparts and therefore there are much fewer accusation leveled at them for using excessive force.
Female officers are said to be better at defusing situations that hold the potential of escalating into violence. They also have been seen as displaying better communication skills and noted for responding more effectively to incidents of violence against women.
If these findings are correct then it might be in the interest of Guyana Police Force to consider a similar approach. Increasing the number of its female members would make it possible for patrols in Guyana to always comprise officers of both sexes.
In a modern police service, training in what is called “police work” is not enough. When a police officer is on his/her own patrolling our streets he/she has to make decisions that tests his general intelligence – when is a warning appropriate, is removal from the scene of one of the disputing parties for a period likely to be adequate for defusing a potentially violent incident? Such decisions call for a certain level of intelligence.
Since in 1967, the President’s Commission of Law enforcement and Administration of Justice here in the USA advised that the aim of all police departments is to have all personnel be the holders of at least a first degree from a university. It is an extremely high standard that even today has not been satisfied, but at least it indicates an appreciation of the level of education that is required for satisfactory policing today. In Dallas, some police departments require proof that recruits have successfully completed no less than 45 semester hours of college study.
Alright, Guyana is a poor country, but certainly we need to set our standards a bit higher. Police officers have tremendous power, their actions or lack of same can have tremendous effect, one way or the other, on persons’ lives. To give such power to law enforcement officers who have not successfully completed secondary school and are the holders of at least 6 subjects at CXC, including English, is really criminal behaviour.
I remember some years ago the police were said to have entered a home on Charlotte Street and “beat and kick up” a number of the occupants who were all females, some of them pregnant. If the accusation was true, what kind of animals were these policemen?
Recently I read of a case in which a young lady alleged being subjected to unprofessional conduct at the hands of a dentist. On lodging a complaint to the police, she was reportedly told by an officer “if the dentist was a young man yuh wouldn’t ah complain” or words to that effect.
Then Freddie Kissoon in his article of 1st April 2015 shared his experience with the police when he phoned a station on East Coast Demerara requesting to speak with the officer in charge.
These are merely some of the more innocent transgressions of the police in recent times and represent the level of service that an offer of US$200 per month will buy.
Over the years, when senior officers of the police force, and even the Minister of Home Affairs, seek to defend themselves from accusations of not doing enough to improve the service provided by the police, their response has rarely changed. They feel comfortable telling the nation that this government spends more money on equipping the police (meaning providing vehicles and weaponry) than any previous government.
An appreciation and understanding of the complexity of the problem seems totally beyond their mental grasp. I really do think that Minister Rohee wants to see the Guyana Police Force attain some level of competence and be the recipient of citizens’ respect.  But let’s be honest, based upon some of the comments he reportedly makes at various forums, it is hard to feel confident that such a mind would allow him to be helpful in this matter.
Perhaps I am unfair; perhaps the honorable Minister is smarter than his utterances suggest. Perhaps courses like 320, 321 and 30B might have been designed to adequately provide this graduating class of recruits the competence to respond to the challenges identified above.
After all Assistant Commissioner Balram Persaud did tell the gathering at the graduation ceremony that the ranks joined the force as “raw material” and that “the rough stone that came in was cut and polished, so that the product that we are sending out is a gem stone of unmatched quality”.
Claudius Prince

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