The Police Force is in need of a behavioural science unit

Jan 27, 2020 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan hit the nail on its head when he recently called for tougher scrutiny of recruits to weed out corrupt ranks in the Guyana Police Force (GPF). According to a daily newspaper article, the Hon. Minister in response to a report that a member of a specialised section of the GPF was fingered in an armed robbery on the West Coast of Demerara, stated, “All rogue elements must be forced out. We must strengthen the vetting system (for recruits) … but we still have the ones who want to live the illegal life.” Although this is a timely call, the focus must be broadened to reach all levels and ranks in the Force to weed out corrupt and undesirable behaviour.
The recruiting system for regular members of the Force is quite simple. Applicants who passed the entrance examination; are physically fit; satisfy background checks by the Special Branch and Divisional Command; are cleared by the Criminal Records Office and are successful at the Final Interview for Selection, will be well on their way to wear the police colours- blue and black. For members of the Special Constabulary and other auxiliary the process is even easier to gain entry in the Force.
No longer can you swear for a policeman, give him a badge and a gun and send him in the street to work. No longer can a policeman depend on his brawn and political connections to be effective. The paradigm has shifted. To be effective, a policeman must understand behaviour. He must not only understand the behaviour of the criminals, the behaviour of his superiors, his peers, his subordinates, his friends, his family and members of the public but his own behaviour. Hence, it is apposite to note that the recruitment process must cater for behaviour, moreso psychological behaviour. Recently, President Anthony Carmona of Trinidad and Tobago called for members of his police service to be exposed to behavioural psychologists. A good starting point to aid the recruitment process is to set up assessment centres. An assessment centre is a place where the applicants undergo a series of events or activities under the watchful eyes of trained assessors, who are expected to among other issues anlyse the behaviour of the applicants. According to Tinsley (2002), “The assessment centre was and still is – one of the best methods available for selecting suitable candidates for either employment or advancement in law enforcement agencies.” It is nothing new. Both Allies and the Axis used it during World War II to train their spies.
During my groundings with my brother officers in Jamaica, I attended several assessment centres for applicants for the Jamaica Constabulary. I vividly recall one applicant had a degree from the University of the West Indies. He failed the assessment and was not recruited as during the assessment, he displayed some amount of psychopathic behaviour. Francis Forbes who was in charge of the Jamaica Constabulary Staff College and who later became a Commissioner of the Jamaica Constabulary remarked, “Him can get a degree from UWI, but if him a psycho, him can’t be a police.” Utilising the assessment centres will result in fewer persons being recruited but a better quality of persons will be enlisted in the Force.
It is not that all members of the GPF are involved in corruption and unethical behaviour. There are good and bad policemen. Walker et al (2001) may be instructive when they wrote, “ It has become a truism among police chiefs that 10 percent of their officers cause 90 percent of the problems.” What is needed is a way to identify these problems very early. Walker et al suggest, “ Early warning (EW) systems are data – driven management tools for identifying police officers with performance problems. EW systems have emerged as popular tools for identifying police officers with performance problems and for providing some intervention to correct those problems. EW systems have emerged as popular tools for enhancing police accountability. “ Arnold (2001) posits, “ Early Warning Systems (EWS) were developed as proactive tools and have been utilised by some law enforcement agencies for over a decade with beneficial results. These systems have to a limited degree, provide a ‘heads up’ regarding behavioural problems with police officers and afford the agency an opportunity to implement remedial action.” However, as Rhyons and Brewster caution, “ An Early Warning System is not a substitute for good supervision. Instead, it is a tool designed to help good supervisors become better.”
Another entity that can promote good behaviour is a behavioural science unit. Sometime ago, I made a call for the establishment of such a unit in the GPF. It fell on deaf ears. I hope that this time, it will fall on fertile soil. I again make such a clarion call. Since then, the University of Guyana has rushed ahead and established a behavioural science department at its Turkeyen Campus. Certainly, the police can also utilise that facility while they await the setting up of their own such unit. During my stint at the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy in the United States of America, I was exposed to their behavioural science unit. My interaction with that unit then and subsequently enabled me as a senior law enforcement officer to deal effectively with my superiors, peers, subordinates, members of the public, friends, family and my own behaviour.
Establishing assessment centres, early warning systems and behavioural science unit will enable the police to design, develop, implement and evaluate effective strateges and tactics as they move from incident driven and reactive approaches to effectively analysing pattern of crimes and violence in order to create opportunities for them to be more proactive and conduct more intelligence-led policing. These interventions would also promote activities to minimise corruption and unethical behaviour in the GPF. May God bless the Guyana Police Force.
Yours faithfully,
Clinton Conway
Assistant Commissioner of Police
(Retired)

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