…CoI knocks Hicken, says he is part of “unprofessional wrangling”

ASSISTANT Police Commissioner and head of operations, Clifton Hicken, is said to be “part of the unprofessional wrangling that is taking place among some of the senior officers of the Guyana Police Force and which had led to some degree of polarisation,” the report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the alleged plot to assassinate President David Granger has concluded.
The commission has recommended disciplinary action against Hicken for a series of alleged infractions, including failing to follow established policing procedures pertaining to the investigation into the plot.

In the report submitted to President David Granger a few weeks ago, the Paul Slowe-led commission said Hicken should be disciplined for neglecting to ensure that a record of Andriff Gillard’s allegation of the plan to assassinate the President was made in the relevant station records within ‘A’ Division. Hicken during his testimony before the commission said he had received a call from Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum requesting that Gillard be escorted to CID headquarters from the Ministry of Public Security on March 29. He said he immediately sent Divisional Detective Michael Kingston to collect Gillard and take him to his (Hicken’s) office. When Gillard arrived, Hicken only verified that he was the person to whom Blanhum had referred and sent him to CID with Kingston.
Hicken did not interview Gillard, who alleged that he was offered $7M to kill President Granger sometime in June 2015 by Nizam Khan. The accuser contended that he asked Khan to borrow $6M, but instead was offered $7M once he agreed to kill the President. He refused but reported the matter to the police only in March, 2017.

But Hicken’s failure to interview Gillard was questioned by Slowe, who had asked him why he did not question Gillard. “It was not for me to get involve [sic] in matters involving CID,” responded Hicken during his testimony. He said he contacted substantive police commissioner Seelall Persaud on the matter and he too told him to have Gillard sent to CID immediately for questioning. “I confirmed the name of the man and forwarded him to CID headquarters,” said Hicken, who currently serves as assistant commissioner, operations. This response did not find favour with Slowe, a retired assistant commissioner who said, “I am not accepting that!” “Won’t you have been interested to know what is the story?” he continued. But Hicken maintained that he did what was required of him.
He said it was necessary for him to ensure it was the right individual being escorted to CID. “Chief, you have to confirm these things…if it was the wrong person, I would have been in the hot water by now,” said Hicken, who made it clear he had no intention to tarnish the investigation. “I just didn’t want to get involve [sic].”
“Nobody wanted to get involve [sic]…that is quite clear and based on what you have said so far…you chose not to ask the man any questions,” concluded the commissioner, who noted “that is neglect, that is dereliction of duty.” In his report to President Granger, Slowe made it clear that Hicken should be “disciplined for his failure to interview Gillard to ascertain the nature of the allegation.”

“This is a clear neglect by him,” the report stated. Slowe also recommended that Hicken be disciplined for reporting the allegation to Persaud, who at the time was on annualised vacation leave. “This conduct is prejudicial to good order or discipline,” he stated in his report, while adding that the former Commander ‘A’ Division be disciplined for failing to report the said allegation to Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine, who was acting as police commissioner then.
Meanwhile, Hicken had also said that as far as he is aware, the matter had not been recorded in his Division and noted that he acted upon instructions. His response caused him to bump heads with Slowe who questioned, “That is a commander-level perspective?” to which Hicken replied, “You are harping on the commander level and you know that when things are handled at CID Headquarters, commanders don’t get involved…I think some of the structures would have faded away…I note your tone and I am very straight with this inquiry…I know what you’re saying, but the standard and latitude you would have had in your time is different…this is not where you left…this is a different time.”
However, Slowe maintained that initial investigations should begin at the divisional level and there must be records to reflect same. Additionally, it was recommended that Hicken be investigated for perjury in relation to his statement under oath that he had reported the allegation to Commissioner Persaud at about 10:00hrs on March 29.

“This claim was not supported by Commissioner Persaud’s sworn testimony before the commission. It should not go unnoticed that Hicken stated that he reported the allegation to Commissioner Persaud who was on leave and not Ramnarine, the acting commissioner. The evidence before the commission strongly suggests that Hicken is part of the unprofessional wrangling that is taking place among some of the senior officers of the GPF, and which had led to some degree of polarisation. It is obvious that Hicken is on the side of Commissioner Persaud,” the report concluded.