AS Training Officer of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Senior Superintendent of Police and attorney-at-law, Mr  Paul Williams is calling on all members of the public to be honest in their dealings at all levels with the Guyana Police Force.

Williams told the Guyana Chronicle Friday that one of the biggest problems the Felix Austin Training College faces is credibility of the testimonials and references of individuals who seek entry into the Force. He said many of the GPF recruits show up with testimonials and references from very senior persons in society, including justices of the peace, senior public functionaries and other persons, recommending them for entry into the Force; but at the end of the day, their behaviour does not correspond with the stellar qualities they are reputed to possess in those testimonials and references.
This practice, he said, is very dangerous, and for many reasons. While those giving the testimonials and references for the applicants may mean well in trying to give the young people a chance at a career, he explained, there is still a broader picture that needs to be looked at; and if those persons who put their signatures to the testimonials and references really knew the importance of policing and the gravity of the profession, they would not so readily append their signatures to those recommending documents, which for want of a better description, cannot stand up in court.
Williams said when a trainee completes training and becomes a member of the Force, the powers entrusted to that individual and the responsibility that accompanies the profession are tremendous, and those who sign testimonials and references should understand the importance of ensuring that they recommend the right people for the job.
There have been cases when the administration of the training college had to rein in persons who put their signatures to those two critical documents after personnel from the training college found that the people they were dealing with in the classroom and in training were different from the individual identified on paper.
According to Williams, when the force is misled through testimonials and references, it is placed in an extremely embarrassing situation when those same persons who were recommended for the job go into communities, fail to conduct themselves properly, and totally disregard the Standard Operating Procedures and Standing Orders of the Guyana Police Force. Such acts also strain the prestige of the institution, Williams added.
“What we are looking for is true background reports and recommendations coming from within the communities,” he said. He said that all the Guyana Police Force is asking of the public, especially those signing those recommendation documents, is to tell the Force the truth about what they know of the people they are recommending, so that the Guyana Police Force, through its training school, would know what level of work needs to be done with the individual before he or she is placed out there to deal with the public, as they are released to serve and protect the citizens of Guyana.
If those persons who offer testimonials and references are not comfortable telling the truth about the applicants, there is the option of mailing information to the Police College, or delivering same in person.
The College also now has a policy that anyone who chooses to be a referee for any person seeking entry into the Guyana Police Force through the training School would need to include their addresses and all other contact information before those prospective recruits are acknowledged. This serves to allow the Force to keep in contact with those referees. This method has been adopted so that whenever there is a case in which recruits are discovered to be different from whom they have been presented as in references, their referees would be contacted and apprised of the developments.