CPGs exposed to personal development training

Aug 29, 2017 News

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– In quest to improve community policing in A2 Division

With a key focus on crime prevention whereby the people of a community can forge effective

partnerships with the police force, the notion of the Community Policing Group [CPG] was brought into being many years ago. Several communities, with the support of the Guyana Police Force [GPF], have since set up their own groups which have been helping to keep at bay many criminal activities.
But being efficient at such a demanding task requires much more than just a will to prevent crime. In fact, according to Secretary of the A2 Division Policing Group, Mr. Soren Griffith, it was long recognized that there was a need to address both functional and administrative shortcomings among groups within the A2 Division.
The A2 Division stretches from Eccles on the East Bank of Demerara to Moblissa on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
In order to address the evident shortcomings a decision was taken to streamline a deliberate intervening plan. Moreover, a three-day personal development training programme was crafted with the intention of addressing the shortcomings, and by extension, improving the capabilities of Community Policing Groups within the A2 Division.
Recently, the Community Policing Division, in collaboration with the Guyana Police Force and many other key stakeholders, hosted its first annual Personal Development Training programme. The training initiative was held at the Friendship Secondary School on the East Bank Demerara, and had as its main focus to address all shortcomings, both administratively and functionally.
In fact according to Griffith, based on consultations and the work plan for the training, a whole gamut of topics was facilitated. These included sessions on Anger Management by Ms. Glynis Beaton; Gender-based issues/Social Protection by Mr. Diego Alphonso; First Aid by Ms. Fayon Jordan; Defensive Driving by Sergeant Heyat Chunia; Disaster Preparedness by Mr. Sean Welcome; CPG/GPF Relations by Ms. Cristal Robinson; Youth Development by Mr. Dale Erskine; Standard Operating Procedure [SOP] by Mr. Dennis Pompey and Leadership, by Griffith himself.

Sessions were well planned, with each being synchronized with the previous one, thus building in a systematic order, the smooth flow of information to the participants.
The first day of the workshop saw many eye-opening concepts being extended to participants.
For instance, Mr. Pompey’s session on Standard Operating Procedures [SOPs] was found to be extremely enlightening. Through his use of well constructed techniques to transfer information, Pompey was able to utilize an approach that saw him initially being able to briefly and interactively discuss what was meant by SOPs. In so doing, he was able to build a foundation for further discussions and deliberations with the participants. Moreover, by the end of his session, participants had a better understanding of their roles and functions as members of Community Policing Groups.
Easily complementing the SOP session was the Anger Management discourse led by Ms. Beaton. She was able to amplify the importance of Anger Management and how it relates to dealing with issues both on a personal and impersonal level. She meticulously explained some of the determining factors of anger, and expounded on ‘controlled anger’ as being healthy at strategic encounters.
Participants were also exposed to a very informative session facilitated by Mr. Diego Alphonso of the Ministry of Social Protection. His intent was to help the participants better understand the difference between ‘Gender and Sex’, and he certainly accomplished this feat.
In fact, his presentation turned out to be an extremely educational one to all participants, since many of them admitted to not even being aware that there was a distinct difference between gender and sex. Alphonso was also able to address the issue of gender roles and other debatable gender-related topics.
On day two of the training programme, participants were not disappointed with Ms. Jordan’s delivery on First Aid. Participants were engaged in both practical and theoretical learning.
Thereafter, there was a presentation by a member of the Guyana Police Force. Sergeant Chunia facilitated on the topic of defensive driving, during which he highlighted the characteristics of a defensive driver, and how to respond and adhere to traffic laws. The Sergeant during his presentation explained that defensive driving is ‘driving to save lives, time and money, despite f the conditions around you and the actions of others’.
He also deliberated on traffic offences as well as ticketed and non-ticketed offences. Many questions were asked at the end of his presentation which suggested that the participants were eager to understand all the knowledge being transferred.
Like the presenter before him, Mr. Welcome with his Disaster Preparedness focus was able to retain the interest of the participants by addressing various misconceptions with regards to the Civil Defence Commission [CDC]. Welcome, in his quest to provide clarity, delivered a brief history of the CDC. His session also allowed participants to be engaged in purposeful dialogue, where discussions even extended to geographic and climatic conditions influencing climate change.
The second day of training culminated with Ms. Robinson imparting some knowledge on the subject area of CPG/GPF relations. Interestingly, even though persons were very versed in the day to day operation and expectations of Community Policing, many of the areas addressed by Robinson were still new to some of them.
The final day of the training session was as fruitful as the previous two. It commenced with Mr. Erskine, Secretary of Specialists in Sustained Youth Development and Research (SSYDR), conducting a concise presentation on the history and role of SSYDR. SSYDR is an organization that focuses on the development of youths with a view of impacting positively on communities, and in so doing, help to reduce crime and violence.
As such, Erskine expressed SSYDR’s desire of collaborating with Community Policing to help reduce such unwelcome behaviour among youths within the various communities. He however stated that working with youths alone would not solve the problem, but rather, family interventions were also in the blueprint.
Ending the day’s proceedings and the training session altogether was Mr. Griffith, with a presentation on ‘Leadership and Teamwork’. He touched on several topics including differentiating between leadership and management, problem solving, characteristics of great leaders, self-worth, among other related subject areas.
However, he lamented on the need for integrity from leaders within the Division since, according to him, this is somewhat lacking, based on his experience with some groups within the Division. Additionally, he expressed that most times the strength of a group is determined, directly or indirectly, by how it is being led.
When the curtains officially came down on the training programme, Griffith said, “The Division was satisfied with the turnout from the standpoint that the training conducted was that of a ‘trainer of trainers’, and as such it is our hope and desire that the persons who attended will impart what they would have ingested from the training sessions to their various Groups.”

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