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What is going on with the Police Force?

May 22, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Whatever was going on at the Guyana Police Force (GPF) before, and is going on currently, it is becoming obvious that the roof is caving in and the bottom is dropping out at the same time. The reports coming out of recent developments and prior charges involving a not so small group of very senior officers, if they prove to be of substance, and hold up, do not speak well for the GPF in the least. Much worse, the charges levelled against several ranking officers, if they stand the tests of judicial scrutiny, do not add to the confidence and comfort of most Guyanese, including those who support the GPF, and wish it the best. This is not good at all, and if the charges stand, then some real damage would have been inflicted.
We have something to say in no uncertain terms, we at this publication will unequivocally support any Guyana Police Force that is working diligently and tirelessly to protect the citizens of this country professionally and in the most principled manner. We are desirous of a vibrant and ethically functioning GPF, since this is for the better of all of us. We want to cover and report accurately and fairly that the membership of the GPF, from senior to junior officers, are doing right by us, and are recognised for doing so. There is nothing better that we would like to do, to report and to share with the Guyanese public.
It was, therefore, with a sense of regret and some shame that we had to report “Paul Slowe, others implicated in Police Force’s $10M fraud – Slowe also accused of sexual assault” (KN May 20); and that they were subsequently charged “Retired officers, others charged in $10M police fraud” (KN May 21).
This is bewildering and damning. It is both bewildering and damning, because the accusations, now charges are laid against: a) the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, b) three retired Assistant Commissioners, c) one current Assistant Commissioner, d) two retired Senior Superintendents, and e) one retired Superintendent.
This was, at one time, a significant segment of the cream of the senior crop of the GPF. Even though the bulk of the accused are now retired, there is still shock (and it takes a lot to do that to us) that these charges have arisen.
In addition, when one considers the shocks of just a few weeks ago, where other current senior police officers in the Force’s Finance Office were charged with a huge fraud, then there must be deep concern throughout this country, as to what we really have here in the GPF.
These officers will all have their day in court, but what has allegedly occurred is not confidence building at all. It is shattering and we must wonder, we think that the rest of Guyana is in the same state and place, as to what else is going on in the GPF.
That is, what is it that is still to come to light? What more, hopefully nothing else and no one else, could be going wrong. We would hope not. Whatever is going on let the chip fall, and justice prevail.
On another note, one of the newest aspects embroiling the GPF is the development involving the arrival of a recently minted outside Public Relations team. As we have had cause to caution in our weekday Page 7 “Blunt” coverage on May 20, last, “we… condemn any plan by the Force to deny us access to information that will promote transparency and accountability.” We are surprised that what was working well for the GPF, namely, the handling of PR for the Force, was suddenly handed over to an outside group of media practitioners.
The citizens of this country do not need smoothened messages about the doings of and goings-on at the GPF. What all of us need are the facts and circumstances, as they are, and nothing else. All Guyanese are entitled to the fullness of the whole truth, and not some carefully filtered and canned stories that do more to conceal than reveal.
We are troubled by the continued rocking within the GPF, now involving a slew of former and current high-ranking people. We are watching this positioning of outside PR people inside the Force to screen and (possibly) sweeten stories. The GPF is under siege and we are unhappy about where things stand today on several worrying counts.

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