THE Ministry of Home Affairs convened a one-day meeting, last November 27, with members of Police Station Management Committees at the Police Officers’ Mess Annexe, Eve Leary, Georgetown.
In attendance on the historic occasion were Minister Clement Rohee and officials, including Permanent Secretary Angela Johnson, senior officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF)  Administration, led by Commissioner Henry Greene  and Divisional Commanders, civilian members of Station Management Committees (SMCs) in all policing divisions and Subordinate Officers-in-Charge of stations where such committees exist.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Rohee emphasised that the forum was a further step in the Government’s desire to make an overall assessment of the relationship between communities and the Police.
While expressing the view that it would be difficult to assess Police/community relations without interaction with communities, he explained that the process started with outreaches throughout the country, followed by community policing outreach meetings, where officials met with community policing members in all divisions.
Rohee said a field audit of community policing groups, to verify statistics and assess the contributions being made by the groups in their communities was also done, along with separate meetings with youths and women involved in community policing.
He said his experience has shown that the various SMCs had different views as to what were their functions and responsibilities and, having discovered those anomalies, it was thought important to have an engagement between the Ministry and the leadership of the GPF on the way forward.
Rohee said SMCs are the main cog in the wheel where the Police and the community work together and they have proven themselves useful in enhancing police/community relations and assisted in making communities and society safer.
He thanked all those who continue to give voluntary time to serve on the committees and expressed the hope that the consultations and exchange of views at that forum would lead to common positions, so that, irrespective of where they operate from, all involved in the process would have the same understanding and appreciation of the role of the SMCs.
Greene commended the Ministry initiative and hoped the discussions would be invigorating, informative and progressive and contribute positively to the relationship between the Police and the community.
During the meeting, described as successful, there was meaningful interaction and discussion amongst the Ministry officials, Police personnel and civilian members, on issues pertinent to the SMCs.
A release said group discussions focused on four main areas, the general and specific experiences of SMCs, building better SMCs/Community relations, forging better Police/SMCs relations and the terms of reference of SMCs.
At the conclusion, a number of recommendations were made and they are being discussed by the Ministry and the GPF, the release said.
SMCs were inaugurated by the GPF in 1996 by then Commissioner Laurie Lewis and they comprise Police personnel and influential persons in the communities, with the initial thrust of assisting with the maintenance of stations, equipment and vehicles.
The main objectives of those bodies are to ensure an effective monitoring system for Police stations by both Police and civilians and enable the GPF to offer a better quality of service through help and support from members of the community.