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Police reform

Nov 07, 2024 Editorial, News

…Editorial

Kaieteur News- The recent corruption scandals in the Guyana Police Force (GPF) have renewed calls for root and branch changes and reform in the organisation.

The GPF is the most visible and ubiquitous institution in the law and order arena and it is not unreasonable for citizens to expect the organisation to fulfill its motto to serve and protect them. Confidence in the Guyana Police Force among citizens has always been low. The Guyana Police Force over the years has been embroiled in numerous allegations of corruption, including involvement in extrajudicial killings, collaboration with criminal gangs, selling driver’s licences and firearms, executing political instructions, facilitating the transshipment of illegal narcotics, and covering up murders, particularly those involving wealthy Guyanese, politicians, and the politically-connected. Financial crimes within the Force further compound these egregious acts. Such actions fundamentally undermine the integrity and trustworthiness of the Police Force and the call for reform cannot be ignored.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) last month in a statement 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, among other things 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. These are not unreasonable demands and we urge the government opposition to give serious consideration to them.

To some, especially from within the Force, talks of police reform is déjà vu. They have seen   several inquiries into the operations of the force over the years- some knee-jerk reactions to the burgeoning crime wave, designed to pass the buck by blaming the GPF. While this may have been the intent of some, the reports themselves, especially the Disciplined Forces Report (DFR) that was tabled to Parliament in 2004, went far beyond finger pointing and identified the structural bases of why the GPF has been unable to contain crime.

It is not our intention to go into detail as to what may be necessary for a complete overhaul of the force: we simply want to emphasise that we cannot avoid it, just to resume wringing our hands when the next eruption in crime hit us in the face or another scandal with the magnitude like the one that has enveloped Calvin Brutus. We cannot afford to become complacent. Allegations of corruption or torture by the members of the GPF and unexplained deaths of individuals while in police custody are only some of the troubling symptoms, other than the apprehension of criminals, which highlight the underlying systemic malaise in the GPF. Reform of the GPF cannot be sidelined.

(Police reform)

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