…says keen on boosting morale in the force

AFTER careful consideration and consultation with his administrative team, Commissioner of Police Leslie James has reversed a few decisions which were made by former acting Top Cop, David Ramnarine.

The decisions had all received much media attention and some level of public criticism when they were first made by Ramnarine, as he performed the duties of Top Cop. Among them were the transfers of ‘A’ Division Traffic Officer Stephens to Berbice and Traffic Sergeant Boyce from the said division to the Tactical Services Unit (TSU). Also, the transfer of Inspector Playter from Berbice to ‘C’ Division, after the officer had refused to accept a call on a civilian’s cellular phone, which reportedly was from Ramnarine who was at the other end.

On Monday, Commissioner James was asked about his decision, and he made it clear that the force is not static and that there are times when decisions made would be re-examined with the best interest of the force in mind.

According to the Top Cop, based on rethinking and reconsideration, of course there will be actions which would be taken. He hinged these on a broader perspective, which he described as ensuring that there is good morale among those who serve the organisation.
“Moral is very, very important for any force like ours and as long as we have a force where moral is very high, performance will not be questioned, and any person who knows management will understand that very clearly” Commissioner James affirmed.

He, however, cautioned that he is not in the business of engaging in any actions that will cause a media frenzy and he will never seek to allow his actions, now or later on, to be the subject of a public debate to the detriment of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), his deputy commissioners, other senior officers and junior ranks. This, however, did not prevent the new head of the premier law enforcement body, from pointing out that there are many issues which many persons who are serving the organisation would like to action to be taken on. “The force must have high morals among its ranks, that is what we are building. This is an organisation that is alive and we have persons with very serious and genuine concerns and we have the public to serve and we have to ensure that moral is very high in this force” Commissioner James continued.

On the issue of Boyce and Stephens, they were transferred after a pastor was pulled over, charged and ended up before the court for allegedly having several expired documents for the vehicle he was driving, while other papers were also not in order. Ramnarine, in his capacity as CoP, had reportedly passed instructions for the pastor to be allowed to continue along his journey, but that message never reach the rank who was dealing with issue. This resulted in the pastor being charged and placed before the court, where he pleaded to guilty to some of the infractions for which he was accused. As the news reached the Top Cop, he ordered the immediate transfer of the two policemen.

The issue of reversal of decisions is not new to the Guyana Police Force (GPF). While acting as Commissioner, Ramnarine himself had reversed a few decisions which were made by the substantive Top Cop at the time, Seelall Persaud, who was then on leave.

Persaud on resuming duty, reversed some of the decisions made by Ramnarine. The most `popular’ but controversial decision, however, was where Ramnarine promoted close to 200 junior ranks and Persaud when he returned from leave, attempted to reverse the decision.

The development, however, captured the attention of the government and Commissioner Persaud was advised against making such a move.

There was also the issue involving Deputy Superintendent Motie Dookie, who in December 2017, was under investigation after he was found in a vehicle which had several cases of smuggled high-end whiskey. Dookie was sent on leave and upon his resumption was sent to head a sub-division by Ramnarine.

However, when Ramnarine left the country on travel duties and then Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Williams held the fort, he removed Dookie from the sub-division. Subsequently, Dookie was sent on leave ‘in the public’s interest’ by Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix, who then was performing the duties of Minister of Public Security. Felix before retiring had also held the position of Commissioner of Police.