Human safety and national development

Jan 29, 2017 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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(Excerpts from an address by President David Granger to the Annual Police Officers’ Conference on January 27, 2017)

Change is compelling and inevitable. The nature of crime, particularly trans-national crime, demands new attitudes and techniques. Continuous reform of the criminal justice system is necessary to stem the incidence of violent crime, including domestic terrorism and inter-personal violence.
Continuous reform is needed to professionalise the officers of the Guyana Police Force in order to prepare them intellectually to provide the leadership needed to reposition the Force to effectively counter the transnational threats which impact on domestic crime.
Continuous reform is imperative to allow the Force to remain relevant, to rebuild public trust and, together with the government, citizens and civil society, to make our country safer and more secure.
The ultimate objective of our policy is to ensure that every citizen is safe – safe from anti-social behaviour, from crime, from disorder and traffic accidents.
The government is committed to providing the support needed to ensure human safety of all citizens and the national security of the state in order to create the framework for national development.
We will launch, this year, a process of reforms, assisted by our international partners and supported by civil society, aimed at improving policing. The reforms, in general terms, will involve:
· preventing crime by improving intelligence and by pro-active deployment;
· protecting victims or vulnerable persons from criminal behavior or disorder;
· promoting greater public confidence in officers through ethical conduct; and
· promulgating measures aimed at building the Force’s capacity and capability.
The reforms which the government proposes must first, discover the causes of crime and, second, implement measures and provide resources to reduce crime. This does not ignore the traditional approach of policing based on crime prevention, crime detection, crime interdiction and criminal prosecution. It goes beyond. It does so by attempting to determine causation.
Violence in Guyana today represents, in part, the effects of the ‘secondary impact’ of a dark period of the first decade of this millennium. Many persons may not have understood or may have forgotten the period of ‘the Troubles.’
The ‘Troubles’ spawned the emergence of drug cartels. Phantom squads were participants in the murders of more than 1400 of our citizens between 2000 and 2009. Guyanese society endured an orgy of bloodletting, including beheadings and summary executions. Guyana is still reeling from the aftershocks of that period.
Police officers must understand this period because, at no other time were so many Police Officers killed on duty. A monument here in Eve Leary was constructed to their memory. It was not that the problems were unknown. It was simply that the responses were insincere, ineffective and incomplete.
Examine a partial chronology of events:
· 1999: Paul Matthias, United Kingdom Regional Advisor, visited to initiate security assistance from Britain.
· 2000: The Symonds Group Limited, consultants for the UK Department for International Development, presented the report “ Guyana Police Reform Programme, known as the Symonds’ Report.
· 2000: Establishment of the National Security Strategy Organising Committee.
· 2002: President Bharrat Jagdeo:
– promulgated a $100M menu of measures to improve the Police Force;
– travelled to London to meet the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to seek help;
– established the Border and National Security committee;
– established the National Consultation on Crime;
– established the National Steering Committee on Crime;
· 2002: Passage, by the National Assembly, on 19th September, of four Anti-Crime Bills:
– the Criminal Law (Offences) Amendment Bill;
– the Prevention of Crimes (Amendment) Bill;
– the Racial Hostility (Amendment) Bill; and
– the Evidence (Amendment) Bill;
· 2003: Presentation, by the UK Defence Advisory Team, of a study of the security sector.
· 2004: Presentation, by the Disciplined Forces Commission, of its Report to the National Assembly.
· 2004-2005: The Scottish Police College executed several projects:
– a scoping exercise to assess the Police Force’s training requirements;
– a series of management training programmes;
– an assessment of the impact of the previous training programmes;
– a scoping exercise in May 2006 – June 2006;
– the presentation of the Guyana Police Force Strategic Plan in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank as part of the Guyana Citizens Security Programme;
· 2005: Promulgation, by President Bharrat Jagdeo, of the National Drug Strategy Master Plan.
· 2006: Promulgation, by President Jagdeo and Baroness Valerie Amos, of a Statement of Principles as the basis for the UK Department for International Development consultancy.
· 2007: Signing, by UK High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler and Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon of an Interim Memorandum of Understanding for a Security Sector Reform Action Plan;
· 2007: Establishment, by Paul Morisetti, International Policing Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, of a task force of police officers from the National Policing Improvement Agency International Academy at Bramshill and the Scottish Police College to implement the action plan following the signing of the MOU.
· 2007: Establishment of a project to assess the Police Force’s operational capability;
· 2008: Establishment of a framework for the “Formulation and Implementation of a National Security Policy and Strategy”.
· 2009: Promulgation of the Liliendaal Declaration on Crime Prevention.
· 2012: Promulgation of the Citizens Security Programme.
· 2013 Establishment of a Strategic Management Department to ‘oversee’ police reform.
Had these so-called initiatives been implemented, Police Officers would not have died; the high rate of murders would not have occurred and the country would have been safer.
It is now time to move beyond ‘woulda’, ‘coulda’ and ‘shouda.’ It is time for ‘will.’ It is time to introduce real reforms that will transform the Force. The past offers lessons for the future. Mistakes must be corrected now and avoided in the future.
Police reform strategy has three short-term objectives:
· Community partnerships: We will strengthen partnerships between the police, communities and non-governmental organizations aimed addressing the causal factors of crime and for creating information and intelligence networks to aid in preventing and solving crime. The improvement of community relations will encourage increased cooperation between the citizenry and the police.
· Capacity-building: We have reengaged with the British-sponsored Security Sector Reform Project to place emphasis on capacity-building of the Police Force. We will be investing, also, in the training and personal development of officers in order to enhance their work ethic and efficiency. We have already launched two major plans – the National Drug Strategy Master Plan and the draft of the Trafficking in Persons Master Plan. These plans will serve as guides for a more professional response to the serious threats which they address. The National Anti- Narcotics Agency (NANA) was established last year. It will become the country’s premier anti- narcotics agency.
· Crime Intelligence: We will rebuild the Force’s intelligence and investigative capabilities. The Integrated Crime Information System (ICIS) will be expanded and strengthened to allow for improved information-sharing among the various law enforcement agencies and to connect more police stations to the central data centre.
The Government, above all, seeks to enhance officers’ professionalism. The three elements of professionalism will mean emphasizing:
– Education, to ensure that officers receive appropriate training before they are advanced in rank;
– Ethics, to ensure that officer behavior conforms to the ‘Values and Standards’ of the Guyana Police Force; and
– Social responsibility, to emphasise officers’ obligation to serve society and the country.
We will boost the human resource development of the Force so as to produce a more versatile police officer. The police officer of the future must be equipped with a wide range of skills and competencies. He or she must be able to operate in different environments. He or she must be capable of working and living on the coastland or in the hinterland.
Police reform is aimed at improving public trust and confidence, developing a stronger organization, boosting the Force’s intelligence and investigative capabilities and producing a more versatile police officer.

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