Police to recommence training at Felix Austin Corentyne College
Assistant Commissioner Operations David Ramnarine examining the Zara Computer Laboratory at the training college last Saturday
Assistant Commissioner Operations David Ramnarine examining the Zara Computer Laboratory at the training college last Saturday

 

THE Guyana Police Force is within the next couple of weeks, looking to recommence training at the Felix Austin Police College at Adventure, Corentyne, East Berbice following a nine-month hiatus.

That recess was to facilitate upgrading and expansion works at the facility, as part of the Force’s mandate to increase its strength by 1500 other ranks.

Force Training Officer Paul Williams and Commander Errol Watts in discussion with some of the staff members who will be working at the College
Force Training Officer Paul Williams and Commander Errol Watts in discussion with some of the staff members who will be working at the College

Last Saturday, Police Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine paid a visit to the facility which at the moment is going through the final stages of priority works to accommodate its recruits. Following the tour of the facility, Ramnarine, who was at the time representing Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud, pointed out that the college has come a far way both in physical appearance and resources, compared to the period in the decades gone by when he attended the very college.

Ramnarine was guided through the facility by Acting Divisional Commander, Senior Superintendent Errol Watts, together with senior staff from the division and some of the staff assigned to take up roles at the training school.

In his remarks, Force Training Officer Senior Superintendent Paul Williams, said the Force has already selected applicants for the training college, and as soon as the works at the facility are completed, those ranks would be sworn in and taken up to the Corentyne location to commence their training.

Williams could not touch on the cost to have the facility extended and the additional works done to make the college more accommodating for the additional ranks, but he told this publication that the Force was not able to conduct any training at that college for about eight or nine months.
He confirmed that the college will now be able to accommodate 60 ranks, as against the 30 it previously accommodated. Williams said it was great that accommodation at the college was being expanded.

According to Williams, at every period of recruitment, the Force would always have more than 1000 applicants who would have successfully sat the entrance examination, but the colleges in Georgetown and Essequibo cannot cater for all the recruits, as they are able to accommodate only approximately 230 persons in addition to the 30 at Adventure, which takes it up to 260.
Now that the Force is moving to change its procedure on how recruitment drives are going to be done, it is looking to bring in the recruits in batches, with each batch consisting of 290 persons at a time. Those persons would be trained for the six-month period, and once that training is complete, they will then move on so that the other batch of the same amount can be accommodated.

This would be after a two-week break from the college to allow for sanitisation and cleaning of the colleges before the new recruits enter for training.

The college at Adventure, the Force Training Officer pointed out, will have a staff of 12 persons. He said that while the Force Training School is responsible for the training colleges across the country, the divisional commanders in the respective divisions have immediate supervisory authority for the facilities, and their monitoring will provide the interventions in cases where decisions have to be made immediately in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures.

The college has already been stocked with groceries, beds, mattresses and its computer room, and other areas of learning for the recruits have already been prepared for the new ranks of the Force.

Additionally, the newest wing of the college has been named The Seelall Persaud Bloc, while another bloc has been named the Clinton Conway Bloc.

 

By Leroy Smith

(Photos by Delano Williams)

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