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25 city constables sent on annual leave amid staff shortage

Nov 13, 2019 News

A row over who has authority to grant city officers leave, broke out at City Hall, yesterday after it was revealed that 25 city constabulary ranks had proceeded on annual leave amid complaints of a staff shortage.
During a statutory meeting of the Mayor and City Council, (M&CC) of Georgetown, yesterday councillors described the decision as “poor.”
“Who approved their leave?”
“I think the Human Resource Manager should share the logic behind the decision,” Councillor Heston Bostwick told the Council.
He noted that it is no secret that the council cannot afford to have all those ranks on leave at the same time.
He stressed that the issue is one which should be given more serious consideration with the possible security threats to the citizenry during the busy shopping season.
“This is peak season and to allow twenty-five officers of the constabulary to be off at the same time would be doing the council a misdeed, a disservice. The Human Resource officer should be made answerable for her poor judgment,” Bostwick added.
However, Councillors including Mayor Ubraj Narine questioned whether the HR Manager even has the remit to approve the leave.
“That would fall under the Local Government Commission,” the Mayor added, citing the law.
But members of the council were adamant that the issue needed more clarity and should be further discussed. Meanwhile the Council was informed that 18 city constabulary ranks who had been previously granted leave, were recalled to duty.
During a press conference earlier this year, Chief Constable Andrew Foo told the media that City Constabulary Department is unable to have the kind of police presence it would like at Stabroek Market Square, but would continue to work closely with police in ‘A’ Division to deal with the crime rate.
“In terms of our constabulary, we are constrained in terms of our numbers. It’s not what we would have asked for (because) actually our authorised strength, in 2018, should have been 345.
We are currently short of approximately maybe 100 officers,” Foo related.
According to him, this affects the maximum performance of the City Constabulary.
“If we had had those officers, the Constabulary would have been able to ensure that we are visibly present on the ground by way of foot patrols and even on bicycle patrols and vehicular patrols.”
Foo had noted that there had been an “upsurge” in robberies at the Stabroek Market area, but lamented that the Constabulary Department, the security arm of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), is deficient when it comes to resources.
Foo posited that a strong police presence would deter robbers from the area.
He stressed the importance of having uniformed Constables in and around the city as he noted that there have been reports of criminals being deterred from their actions.
Most of the work carried out by the constabulary officers is intelligence-led. According to Foo, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is playing the lead role on Stabroek Square because it has the kind of resources required.
The Constabulary, on the other hand, is highly short on staff and also needs equipment.
The Chief Constable informed that as the holiday period approaches, a ‘Christmas Policing Plan’ is usually rolled out which sees the Constabulary receiving additional resources from various sources.

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