— ACP Hicken urges good police-community relations

THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) has received some 133 ranks at a time when it is implementing strategies of the ongoing security reform to boost its capacity.

After undergoing rigorous training and graduating from the Felix Austin Police College on Friday, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken, believes that the new constables can be the catalysts of change in the Police Force.

“You need to take all you learnt and put them into practice… don’t worry, we have a structured mechanism so you will not be unsupervised,” said the assistant commissioner.
Hicken urged the new ranks to be disciplined and informed when making decisions, noting that their decisions will be made on behalf of the commander and by extension the entire Police Force.

In order to make informed decisions, the ranks were encouraged to read the Discipline Act, since a breach would not only shame the Force but would subject them to correction.
The assistant commissioner also expressed the belief that the recruits were properly regimented and will continue to learn as their journey in the Force continues.

“You will be on the frontline where you can interact with members of the public more often, so it is important that you fit yourselves into communities,” said Hicken as he underscored the importance of good community relations.

The ranks, he also urged, should get into communities and identify problems before they escalate as it will enable the Force to focus its attention more on prevention than detection.
“It is important to rebuild public trust, so we need to ensure that we change the bad publicity that we often get into good ones,” said the assistant commissioner.

He admitted that over the years the Force has been unable able to stop bad publicity but has adopted a partnership approach to help change the negative perception.
The Force will be beefing up security during the Christmas season and the new recruits will be playing an active role in the process.