UG collaborating with GPF on senior officers’ course
THE Guyana Police Force (GPF), in collaboration with the University of Guyana (UG) School of Professional Development, has arranged a four-week programme to enhance the leadership and management skills of its senior officers. At the opening ceremony yesterday, in the Police Officers’ Mess Annexe, Eve Leary, Georgetown, it was stated that 16 participants are undergoing the course.
Delivering the feature address, Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee congratulated Deputy Commissioner, Leroy Brumell, who is Acting Commissioner, for mounting the exercise which targets senior officers who hold managerial positions in the GPF.
Rohee noted that the initiative is designed to enlighten senior officers about their roles as managers to function as divisional commanders, which entails a multiplicity of tasks as well as to focus on their primary duties to support the ranks under their command.
He observed that, having been trained, the senior officers will seek to promote the interest of the organisation with its core functions and the desire to provide higher quality of service through which they can hold their ranks together and instill good values in them.
Rohee urged the senior officers to heed the course outline, in which various stakeholders, such as politicians, including Government Ministers and others have been  invited to interact with them, since their inputs are critical to its success.

NUTS AND BOLTS
He said the Ministry of Home Affairs has been pressing for the institutional modernisation of the GPF in its strategic planning, in which senior ranks must embrace technological developments to confront challenges ahead but not to abandon the “nuts and bolts” of policing.
In brief remarks, Deputy Commissioner (Law Enforcement) Seelall Persaud said, although Brumell was unavailable yesterday, he was instrumental in organising the activity with UG and other stakeholders.
Persaud said the process is geared towards the development of the senior ranks because it has long been determined that the GPF holds a leadership/management role and its ranks must be brought together to concentrate on particular issues relevant to the policing functions in today’s environment.
He said the procedure will also deal with the concept of issues of awareness in which senior officers would be equipped with the required knowhow to perform on the job daily.
Speaking on the occasion, too, Head of the UG School of Professional Development, Mr. D. Boston said that the undertaking will enable the senior officers to perform to the best of their ability, as every manager must make a difference in attitude enhancement, to fully empower the ranks they command.
He said, the senior officers must, therefore, develop inter-personal and group relationships as managers, to gather and properly analyse information.
Force Training Officer, Assistant Commissioner, Clinton Conway  said the 16 participating senior officers will pursue various subjects in which UG lecturers; Rohee; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh will be involved in interaction with them.