It’s now the ‘Guyana Police Service’ - Reform Change Board starts work

It’s now the ‘Guyana Police Service’ – Reform Change Board starts work

Mar 21, 2019 News

The first meeting of the Police Reform Change Board (PRCB) was yesterday chaired by Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan,
The Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, and the executive leadership team of the force were present, along with Dr. Clement Henry, Project Manager of the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP).
Also taking part were the UK Security Adviser to the President, Colonel Russell Combe, and the Minister’s Personal Assistant, Dianna Rajcumar.

The participants pose following the first meeting of the Police Reform Change Board.

The advent of the board, according to the ministry, came from the reform work conducted under a CSSP consultancy by international expert consultants with many years of experience working with the Guyana Police Force. They had proposed the need for a ministry forum for managing police reform.
The main agenda item at the meeting was to agree to the proposed Terms of Reference for the board. It will include providing strategic direction, monitoring, guidance and support to the police to implement the reform programme.
The board will also review the progress being made by the police with the various reform activities under way.
It will also have oversight of all the strands of police reform activities, which can then be coordinated, measured and evaluated.
A number of reports and consultancies have been delivered to the Guyana Police Force.
These all contain important recommendations, according to the ministry.
It is the prioritizing of these reforms and the implementation thereof that is the chief function of the board.
“It is important to stress that this is not the start of reform. The process has been ongoing for some time by the police themselves, the CSSP and the work by the UK Security Adviser as well as the locally initiated reform coming out of the GPF,” the ministry explained.
“This first meeting of the PRCB is another important step and a milestone in the reform process. It also highlights the Commissioner of Police achieving his promise to make meaningful progress in Police reform by the end of March 2019. Finally, an important decision taken by the PRCB at its first meeting, was to agree that the name of the Guyana Police Force should be changed to the ‘Guyana Police Service.”
The government had started the reform of the police force which over the years had been dogged by corruption, poor performance and inefficiencies.
Last year, James was confirmed as the new police chief with a number of new deputies named also.

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