Latest update April 5th, 2025 12:59 AM
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Don’t pay bribe, take the ticket – Top Cop urges
Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud
Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud has repeated the call for persons not to encourage corruption by offering his ranks bribes.
The Top Cop had made the call last week while talking to reporters following the presentation of this year’s Best Cop award.
Mr. Persaud said while corruption cannot be completely eliminated from an organization with the size of the Guyana Police Force, there are things that can be done to limit it.
He said that his administration is very concerned about the perceived high level of corruption among members of the Guyana Police Force, hence the implementation of action to ensure accountability of ranks and to investigate unprofessional behaviour.
“We are very concerned about corruption. And we know that there is no way we can have a Force of 5000 persons and don’t have people who will behave bad,” Persaud said.
He made the point that corruption is a worldwide phenomenon that manifests itself not only in police forces, but every sector of society, and it’s a reality that has to be dealt with in a collective way.
“So we could tell members of the public, ‘listen, a traffic man stops you for a violation and he asks you to leave a raise, ask him for your ticket, ask to go to court’. Don’t encourage it (corruption),” the Commissioner advised.
But that is easier said than done as the Commissioner acknowledged.
“A lot of times they (members of the public) are more often than not willing to pay the police. A lot of times they are making these offers. And so if you encourage a corrupt police force, that is how they will respond to when matters are concerning you.”
The Police Commissioner explained that once members of the public encourage corruption, they cannot expect members of the Force to remain professional on the streets. He referred to the leaner driver examination where it is believed, and rightfully so, that corruption is pervasive.
Persaud said that a lot of thought and measures have been put into addressing that, since there were several allegations of corruption in the driver’s licence process. As a result of this, the force engaged its partners in the faith-based organizations, who have agreed to assist in invigilating the learner driver examinations.
“We know that there was unprofessional behaviour, because in the first wave there were about 30 percent blank sheets collected. There were persons there who did not prepare to write that exam but they show up there believing that they would have passed the exam without writing it themselves,” Persaud said.
He declared that the move has paid dividends, because persons are now ensuring that they prepare themselves for the exams, knowing that the system has changed and they can no longer pay a bribe to pass.
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