Former Asst. Commissioner accused of lying on the dead

Feb 14, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The Guyana Police Force is responding to an article in the Friday issue of the Kaieteur News under the caption “Many sections of the police force have performed admirably .” The Force feels obligated to respond to the article for two reasons. One is that members of the public are more likely to believe information provided by a former senior member of the Force than by an average member of the public and secondly, Mr. Conway even though he has access to members of the Force through which he can receive factual information, chose not to do so, but instead, to be highly speculative in his cut-and-paste articles that are frequently published by editors.
Mr. Conway indicated that the Force is short of over one thousand ranks in accordance with a 1976 authorized strength. The authorized strength of the Force was reviewed in 2014 when it received an increase of 1,546 members. In 2012, Mr. Conway’s last year of service, the Force was in deficit of 15% of its established strength. At that time Mr. Conway was responsible for recruitment and training.
The current strength of the Force is 4199 which represents a deficit of 757 and not 1000 as according to Mr. Conway. In addition, the Force has already processed 120 applicants to fill vacancies of recruits who will be graduating in March. There are also 467 applicants who are on the waiting list. The reason the Force is not at full strength is that the recruitment course is a residential course so the amount that can be trained per year is limited to available accommodation.
Mr. Conway indicated that the Guyana Police Force has serious communication issues and concerns at the apex of management. The fact is that the Force in contemporary times underwent a lot of reforms in its management that make it completely different from when Mr. Conway served. The Commissioner currently chairs a Performance Group Meeting that meets fortnightly with all the Senior Officers at Headquarters, Divisional and Branch Commanders. Mr. Conway indicated that the Police Force has training instructors who do not understand and appreciate the basic concept of andragogy and have a phobia for an eclectic approach towards training.
During the year 2016, one hundred and eighty-six (186) members of the Force received training overseas, another four hundred and five (405) benefited from international training conducted locally and two thousand two hundred and seventy-two (2272) received training at the Felix Austin Police Colleges. Mr. Conway indicated that since Senior Superintendent Stephen Mansell proceeded on extended vacation leave, very little or nothing has been done in relation to Community Intervention in the Division he commanded. The Force acknowledges that Senior Superintendent Stephen Mansell indeed had an active Social Crime Prevention Program and worked well with Community Leaders in the Division. Assistant Commissioner Leslie James who took over from Mansell continued those projects.
Mr. Conway indicated that since Senior Superintendent Stephen Mansell proceeded on leave the crime rate in the Division has increased. The facts are that when Mr. Mansell proceeded on leave on September 01, 2016 serious crime rates were up by 11% relative to 2015, however, at the end of the year it was down by 6% relative to 2015. Mr. Conway’s speculation is very distasteful to the ranks that have worked very hard to achieve that.
While the Force cannot dispute Mr. Conway’s experience while he was serving, to say that “ghosting” was done in a large Division when Mr. Greene was Commissioner of Police, is actually lying on the dead. Had that occurred, certainly there would have been investigations by the Office of Professional Responsibility and Police Complaint Authority. From among the in excess of 800 complaints made to the Police Complaint Authority for 2016, those relating to reported crimes not being recorded were non-existent or negligible. Mr. Conway indicated that the current Mission Statement of the Guyana Police Force was designed and implemented by the Strategic Management Unit.
The fact is the Mission Statement was crafted by Consultants from the United Kingdom who were contracted to prepare the Guyana Police Force Strategic Plan 2011-2015, long before the existence of the Strategic Management Unit which was formed in 2013. Additionally, the Strategic Management Department had zero line command and therefore could not have implemented anything in the Force. The SMD function was to facilitate the implementation of the reforms in the Strategic Plan and not to implement them. Mr. Conway indicated that Wayne Bennett and Karen Hess (2004) posited that one way to access citizen approval or disapproval is through citizens’ surveys which can measure trends and provide positive and negative feedback on the public’s impression of law enforcement.
The Force agrees with Mr. Conway that community surveys can help to determine citizens’ approval or disapproval of the Force and wishes to suggest to Mr. Conway that instead of deliberately attempting to mislead members of the public on activities of and issues within the Guyana Police Force, he can positively expend his energies in conducting some of those surveys. Mr. Conway can also tell members of the public to what extent studies of crimes in Developed Countries that he quoted in his article are relevant to Guyana and to what extent the culture of people in those countries are common and different from the culture of Guyanese.
Jairam Ramlakhan
Superintendent
Public Relations and Press Officer

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