GHRA calls for sweeping reforms in Police Force

Oct 23, 2024 News

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…says national conversation urgently needed

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has called for sweeping reforms in the Guyana Police Force, saying that the symptoms afflicting the organisation cannot be treated as shortcomings of individual officers.

The GHRA said too that the problems of the Force cannot also be blamed on political parties, although noting that innumerable external consultations for reform have floundered amidst party politicking. The GHRA made the comments in a statement against the background of public discussion on whether Clifton Hicken can be appointed as Commissioner of Police given that he has already passed the age of retirement and the massive corruption allegations leveled against Assistant Commissioner, Calvin Brutus.

According to the GHRA, while Attorney-General Anil Nandlall claims constitutional support can be found for the new appointment, opposition lawyers maintain the Constitution only allows extensions to existing posts for over-age persons, not promotions.

“This on-going row vies for news-worthiness with the astonishing saga involving Assistant Commissioner of Police Calvin Brutus and the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU). These events raise legal, ethical, constitutional and accountability issues. This condition is redeemable only by transformational reforms in all areas.”  The GHRA said pervasive dysfunctionality in the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is manifest in many ways. “A retirement age at 55 years, for example, underlines the distance of the policing establishment from civilian life, in which many people would consider a person of fifty-five to be in their executive prime. The startling facts – as revealed to the press by Mr. Brutus that perks enjoyed by senior police officials are such that he has no need to spend his salary. This revelation was provided to explain his depositing G$46.5M over the counter at Demerara Bank. Apparently, emoluments enjoyed by the top levels of the GPF include rent-free living accommodation, utilities, a police car and driver, security, meals, a maid, cellular plan and allowances from various co-ops and credit unions. However, according to the SOCU affidavit, even this level of generosity cannot explain the G$500M deposited in his, his wife and his child’s name in other bank accounts. More disquieting are revelations about the millions of dollars of wedding and Christmas gifts to the police officer from businessmen, treated apparently as routine, judging by the revelations about them.”

The Human Rights body said whether through a National Commission on Democratic Policing or some other similar mechanism, a national conversation in partnership with communities is urgently needed to achieve a fundamental transition from a Guyana Police Force to a Guyana Police Service.  The GHRA suggested that the terms of such a reform exercise should contemplate: developing a comprehensive reform programme to be promoted as a single package rather than something palatable to political parties; make overcoming the militaristic view of police functions a major priority of the reform programme; Police service must be delivered in inclusive partnership with communities with maximum delegation of authority; make proposals to ensure independent professional scrutiny of policing services rather than rely on an internal Office of Professional Responsibility; make recommendations with respect to management of public order events that impose exceptional demands on police resources; create an Oversight Body by bi-partisan agreement to ensure broad-based receptivity of the Commission; along with technically-qualified people, membership of the Commission must include persons with the energy and inclination for consulting widely in an active outreach programme, not sitting behind closed doors.

Accountability

In terms of accountability, the GHRA said the Guyana Police Force, however, is a civilian body accountable to Parliament, through the office of the Minister of Home Affairs, unlike the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), a military organization subject to the President as its Commander-in-Chief. The Police Service Commission – appointed by the President – is absorbed in matters of promotion and administration and is not convincingly impartial politically. “There is therefore no body or mechanism specifically dedicated to oversight the Guyana Police Force. Consequently, the momentum for evolution of the GPF as a modern police service tasked with ensuring accountability and promoting a peaceful, multi-cultural Guyana is non-existent. The more pervasive formative influence on the GPF remains the colonial militia in which it had its origins.”

The military characteristics of the GPF include the multiplicity of ranks of seniority; over-centralization which insulates the GPF against accountability to communities in which it functions; Regional Commanders with low  or no status in communities and little control over budgets; police stations that appear more prepared to repel an assault than welcoming of community members and finally, complete absorption and all-encompassing focus on crime-fighting rather than intelligence-led preventative security. Devolved Agencies such as the Police Complaints Authority tend to become sinecures for retired judges and treated with disdain by the GPF itself. An attempt to change the name from ‘Force’ to ‘Service’ by former Commissioner Felix was brought to an abrupt end when his own tenure suffered an equally abrupt end.

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• Anil Nandlall, appointment, Commissioner, opposition, organisation, programme

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