THE Guyana Police Force has finally broken its silence on the issues which were raised in the press and on several social media platforms pertaining to alleged corrupt practices within the Force, which, from all indications, involve a Deputy Commissioner of Police.

On Friday, a direct question was posed to the police by a member of the press on its apparent silence on the issues raised by a number of whistleblowers within the Force. The Force, just after 20:00hrs on Friday then issued a statement saying that the matters are under investigation by the Police Office of Professional Responsibility.

However, the whistleblowers, according to previous media reports, have stated that they were more comfortable with a probe into the allegations being done by external sources as against agents of the Force, for fear that the investigation would be compromised.

Over the last few weeks, police ranks have been engaging media operatives, whereby they have been detailing alleged corrupt practices by their colleagues who have been allegedly receiving protection from very senior police officers within the Guyana Police Force.

The matters range from the reissuing of a weapon to a policeman who was reprimanded and removed from front-line duty after he had an ongoing matter involving a firearm but managed to be sent back to front-line duties and reissued a weapon despite his ongoing investigation.

There was also the claim that numbers for several police officers were found in the mobile phones of three bandits who were killed by the police during a shootout, and where a number of mobile phones, cash, police gear and other items were recovered.
The police have denied that the telephone numbers of serving members were found in those phones.

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan had also called for the claims to be investigated thoroughly.