Over the past years, the Guyana Police Force has been under the microscope by the media and the public, as law enforcement is not an end in itself, but rather a means to an end. The police represent only a small fraction of the public they serve, and can never adequately discharge their obligations to protect life and property unless they are reinforced by the good will and co-operation of the public.

It is highly important that the citizen and the policeman understand and appreciate each other’s problems and viewpoints. No matter how well a police department is organized, or how efficient and honest is its administration, it is judged by individual citizens, and consequently by the nature of its wrong-doing.The building of proper relations and attitudes between the police and the public will result in a high degree of popular acceptance.

Despite the difficulties involved, every effort must be made to create as many favorable contacts as possible between the police and the public, because the cumulative effect created by the two policemen and a rural constable at Springlands Police Station, where a teen girl had forced sex, terminates the degree of public confidence and acceptance of police public relations at the moment. There are widely held beliefs that policemen, like those who sexually assulted the teen, are uneducated and of low mentality, that they were selected for physical strength and are of doubtful honesty and integrity.

Despite the fact that many police organisations have made rapid strides and are on the verge of professionalisation, current standards in others leave much to be desired.
Mohamed Khan.