The Police Force needs to make their strategic plan known to the public

Apr 26, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor

Top Cop, Clifton Hicken in his maiden response after being appointed Acting Commissioner of Police boasted that the Guyana Police Force has a new Strategic Management Plan 2022 – 2026. A Guyana Police Force press release issued after the recent signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Guyana Industrial Training Centre and the Guyana Police Force quoted Senior Superintendent of Police, Calvin Brutus as saying that the signed agreement was part of the GPF Five-Year Strategic Management Plan 2022 – 2026. According to Calvin Brutus, the Plan focuses on training and development. This Strategic Management Plan 2022 – 2026 appears to be Top Secret. Ask the general membership of the Executive Leadership Team of the GPF about the Strategic Management Plan 2022 – 2026. They will not only be at sea, but way out of the ocean in grappling to explain it to you. Sub Divisional Officers, Inspectors and Subordinate Officers who were contacted are not au fait with the plan. They have the majority of the police ranks under their command but they cannot pass on to their subordinates what is contained in their Strategic Management Plan 2022 – 2026 because they do not know about it. If the Plan really exists, it is blocked at the very Apex of Management in the GPF.

There are numerous burning questions: When was this New Plan conceptualised, designed and developed? What consultations were done and with whom? Did the police look at international best practices? Was external help sought from experts or was the Plan done by unqualified and inexperienced members of the Force? Did they identify strategic risks? Was the plan compressed into a single document or is it in several pieces scattered all over the place? Was it circulated to at least all the officers? Would there be an evaluation? Did the police plagiarise the Plan?

There are numerous other questions to be asked. The words of Reggae singer, Johnny Nash keep ringing in my ears, “There are more questions than answers and the more I find out, the less I know.”

I heard some words about the Plan coming out of the mouth of Senior Superintendent Calvin Brutus when speaking about this New Plan. They are Operational Priorities, People, Partnerships, Performance and Infrastructure- sounds familiar?
They are the legs of the Strategic Management Plan 2011 – 2015. I do not know if the New Plan also stands on those five legs or if any of the legs was cut off or fresh legs added. Is it basically a copy of the previous Plan with very little changes? Whatever the Plan is, it must be understood, appreciated and communicated to all members of the GPF so that there can be an effective implementation.

In addition, the public must be aware what their protectors have in store for them in order to promote and maintain much needed public confidence and trust in the Force. Strategic Management is important to any police force, moreso, the Guyana Police Force. The Plan is about changes. It is about reform. Most reform fail because the authorities concentrate on the agents of change while the victims of change are neglected. The victims of change are the people in the organisation who will be adversely affected by the changes. They must be equipped with the requisite coping skills to deal with the changes. Rules without relationship lead to rebellion. Effective communication is the lifeblood of any law enforcement agency, whether it is written, spoken, downward, upward, lateral, formal, informal, internal or external. Let the communication on the Strategic Management Plan 2022 – 2026 flow freely from the Apex of Management to Ground Zero and to the general public who the police swore to serve and protect. May God guide and bless the Guyana Police Force.

Regards
Clinton Conway
Assistant Commissioner of Police
(Retired)

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The Police Force needs to make their strategic plan known to the public

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