Officers guilty of misconduct must go- President

Senior officers were warned by President David Granger that when it has been discovered that ranks are guilty of misconduct, then steps must be taken to separate those defaulters from the community of law enforcement.

The Commander-in-Chief made these remarks at the Annual Police Officers’ Conference on Friday. The Conference will conclude today.

“We must separate them so they don’t do further mischief and damage to the reputation of this great Force and don’t jeopardise the lives of their colleagues through their greed or through their folly… I am sure that there are good officers than bad officers. I haven’t come here to accuse you. I’ve come here to encourage you to embrace security reforms,” he said.

The reforms the President referenced include those that will be realised through the implementation of the United Kingdom funded Security Sector Reform Programme (SSRP). Already British Senior Security Sector Reform Advisor, Mr. Russell Combe has arrived in Guyana.

He added that “the nature of crime particularly trans-national crime, demands new attitudes and techniques… We have to continuously reform the criminal justice system if we are to protect our citizens from violent crimes.”

The Head of State pointed out that the programme of reforms must address the need to professionalise the Force and strengthen its leadership so that it is repositioned and ready to effectively deal with threats to public safety and security in all its forms.

The reforms will entail crime prevention through improved intelligence and pro-active deployment, protection of victims and vulnerable groups from criminal behaviour or disorder, the promotion of greater public confidence in officers through ethical conduct and the promulgation of measures aimed at building the Force’s capacity and capability, he said.

The President believes that the country is still reeling from the impact of the crime wave of the early 2000s, which is now referred to as ‘the troubles’. That period spawned the emergence of drug cartels and phantom squads, who themselves, were involved in the murders of more than 1400 citizens between 2000 and 2009. “Police officers need to understand this period because at no other time in the history of the Guyana Police Force were so many Police Officers killed on duty… It must not happen again… We know that there were problems but let us not assume that those problems have gone away or that they cannot recur,” he told the officers.