By Ariana Gordon

COMMUNITY policing is of utmost importance to the APNU+AFC coalition government with President David Granger charging officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) relook at this concept and take steps to bring this arms of the force under stricter control.The President was at the time making his maiden feature address at the Annual Officers’ Conference of the Guyana Police Force at Eve Leary. Focusing his address on community policing President Granger noted that some senior officers of the Force believe that community policing is separate from central policing. He charged the officers to reexamine the concept of community policing. “It is not something peripheral or something you should ignore or treat as a rival – I urge you to recommit yourselves to comprehending more completely real policing of communities,” the President said, even as he congratulated the Force on the enhancement of its crime solving capabilities.

“I congratulate you on your ability to solve crimes more quickly than before… I will give the CID everything it needs to ensure that investigations are not in the wrong,” he added.
President Granger is of the view that community policing is a common good but said over the past two decades the concept has been the subject of undesired interpretations.

A PROCEDURE
“If community policing is inclusive it can contribute measurably to human safety. Community policing is not a group, it is a process. It is a procedure that promotes problem-solving techniques and improves public safety by forging bonds of trust between the police and the public,” the President noted, as he stressed that it is not a separate organisation.
“The commissioner of police must bear responsibility under the law for community policing which must support professional law enforcement. [Community policing must] support, not supplant professional law enforcement,” he added.
Community policing, he added, has an important role to play and the GPF must ensure that it is not “a victim of political policing” where some benefit from efficient policing and others do not because of favouritism or hostility towards the administration of the time.
“It must not be perceived as protecting interests and ignoring the common good,” he said, adding that “there should be bonds of mutual trust between the police and the public.”

Meanwhile, President Granger also committed to providing the GPF with all the resources it needs to be effective and efficient. “It is therefore our obligation to ensure that the police force has all it needs. It must have sufficient manpower, it must be brought up to the standard strength, and it must be correctly deployed,” he stated.

PROTECTION OF CITIZENS
The President in stressing that citizens must feel safe in their communities said the prevention of crime and the protection of citizens is critical. He said “it is easy to make cases” but much more difficult to solve problems.
The previous administration over the past fifteen years developed a multi-dimensional approach and attempted to illustrate a disconnect between central policing and the community policing groups, something that President Granger says must be changed. He said his administration will take heed from the reports of stakeholders, as safe communities are the core of a secure country.
“Our approach to development is rooted in the belief that each citizen performs best in a safe community of people who share common values,” he said, and citizens would be encouraged to take pride in their homes, communities, villages, neighbourhoods, regions and country.
This government’s approach is about “respecting and protecting the most vulnerable members of our society, the elderly, women and children, especially girl children.”
The President said he is disturbed by the many reports of crimes committed in communities. “These are community offences,” he noted, while emphasizing that citizens must be protected; they must feel safe within their space.

SAFE COMMUNITIES
“Citizens must be able to live in communities without fear of being robbed or being abused. Safe communities are necessary for the good life, and we can’t achieve the good life in the absence of human safety,” President Granger said.
The President stressed that the principal objective of the GPF is to ensure the safety of citizens, prevent crime, protect property and life, preserve law and order and prosecute offenders as outlined in the Constitution. “The Force’s foremost responsibility is to ensure that citizens are safe… These four functions are necessary but they are not sufficient,” he added.

While acknowledging the work of the Force, President Granger said the officers of the Force must “go beyond mere outreach and build partnerships with communities.” Partnerships with the community, he said, can only be intensified through community policing.
“The Force therefore has to uphold the unwritten social contract between citizens and the state,” he said.
“The state through the police force is obligated to uphold this side of the social contract. Our government is committed to ensuring that citizens remain safe.”
The President alluded to the rise in criminal activities in the past and said it was as a result of a “deliberate disregard” of the essential needs for human safety.
“The neglect of the National Drug Strategy Master Plan, the shelving of reports of the Disciplined Forces Commission, and a dozen other consultancies and studies, mainly from the UK, weren’t accidental. This government will implement long standing plans for reforms to the security sector.” President Granger said his administration will have a fresh approach to fighting crime and will be addressing the causes of crime. This approach, he said, is aimed to make Guyana safer.
He called on the GPF to develop a strategy for improving human safety in all communities without necessarily building more police stations. “This is the start of the evolution of our existing concept of community policing.

BUILDING A PARTNERSHIP
Community policing is not a substitute, it is a supplement to regular policing. Community policing does not mean that we are putting an army of vigilantes; it means building a partnership between the police force and the residents.”
The Officers’ Conference is being held under the theme, “Consolidating on partnership programmes, enhanced public trust and capacity-building to provide effective security.”