LEGISLATIVE change to the Guyana Police Force Act would be needed before the Guyana Police Force can be renamed the Guyana Police Service, Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan told this publication on Monday.

The name change was proposed within successive police reform recommendations over the years and it was highlighted at the first meeting of the Police Reform Change Board (PRCB) which was recently convened under the chairmanship of Minister Ramjattan.

Ramjattan said that the laws must be amended and passed before anything is official. The board agreed that the name of the Guyana Police Force should be changed to the ‘Guyana Police Service’.

At the recent meeting, the Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, and the complete Executive leadership team of the Police were present, along with Dr Clement Henry, Project Manager of the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP).

Also at the meeting was UK Security Adviser to the President, Colonel Russell Combe. The PRCB came about from the reform work conducted under a CSSP consultancy by well-respected international expert consultants with many years of experience working with the Guyana Police Force, who proposed the need for a ministry forum for managing police reform.

The main agenda item at the PRCB meeting was to agree to the proposed Terms of Reference for the Board. Such included providing strategic direction, monitoring, guidance and support to the police in order to implement the reform programme. The PRCB will also review the progress being made by the Police with the various reform activities under way. It will also have oversight of all the strands of Police reform activities, which can then be coordinated, measured and evaluated. A number of reports and consultancies have been delivered to the Guyana Police Force. These all contain important recommendations. It is the prioritising of these reforms and the implementation thereof that are the main functions of the PRCB.