A review of David Granger’s: The police and the public, public security and public trust.
DAVID Granger’s book, The police and the public: public security and public trust, displays a deep discernment of the daunting challenges facing public security and the appropriate measures that are needed to restore public trust and integrity within the Guyana Police Force.

President David Granger is ideally suited to the task of piloting reform of the Police Force. He brings not only his executive authority to the process but, also, his professional experience and academic research of this subject, including having served as a member of the Disciplined Services Commission and as National Security Adviser.

He is fully au fait with the numerous recommendations which were made by commissions of inquiry and reports of consultancies, but which were not implemented before he assumed the Presidency in 2015.

The security sector reform tableau was tailor-made for David Granger’s talents. He wasted little time in getting into stride. The annual series of Police Officers’ Conferences provided the President with a platform to promulgate his security-sector policies. This book consists of the texts of addresses which he delivered to the five annual police officers’ conferences from 2016 to 2020. The contents constitute a solid body of policies aimed at reversing the loss of public trust in the country’s law-enforcement agencies.

The Police Force, prior to David Granger’s assumption of the presidency, attracted public censure over its perceived pervasive lack of professionalism. Some of its members had been accused of complicity in extra-judicial acts, including killings. Serious crime was at a worrying level in the country.

It came as no surprise, therefore, that in his inaugural address as President to the 2016 Police Officers’ Conference, David Granger chose to emphasize the importance of public trust in the work of the Police Force through its cooperation with communities.
The President’s address signalled the importance which his government attached to improving relations between the force and the public. This was a carefully scripted and delicately presented address.

The President, advisedly, was measured in his support for certain forms of community policing, no doubt being aware of the types of vigilante justice which can often be exercised by rogue community policing groups which were not properly trained, supervised or monitored by the force. His primary focus in the address was on the need to improve relations between the police and communities so as to restore public trust in the force, a condition which is seen as necessary for effective law enforcement and crime-fighting.

The President returned to Police Headquarters one year later, in 2017, with a sharper message to accelerate security-sector reform. He belaboured the previous attempts at police reform to forewarn against the dangers of non-implementation of recommendations for change. The President avoided saying how his reforms would avoid a similar fate. It was a telling omission, considering the traditional resistance to change within the force. He is, clearly, a dogged and determined leader who is undeterred by resistance to his policies.
The Annual Police Officer’s Conference of February 2018 saw the President in a no- nonsense mood. In one o his more piercing presentations, he made it clear that corruption would not be condoned; he insisted that ethical conduct could not be expected from unethical officers. Lawlessness, he cautioned, has no place in a lawful force. It was the harshest reprimand which the force has ever faced. It revealed the President’s steely determination to rid the force of corruption and to win public trust.

One means available for ensuring police probity is through the use of constitutional mechanisms which safeguard the force’s independence and promote trustworthiness. The Police Complaints Authority – an oversight body which investigates allegations of police malpractices – is one such mechanism. The Police Service Commission – which insulates the police from political interference – is another. It also helps to boost the force’s morale by ensuring appointments and promotions that are meritorious and disciplinary actions and dismissals that are deserved.

These two constitutional agencies – which protect the force’s professional independence and which allow for officers and constables to be investigated for malpractices – were the focus of the President’s address to the Annual Officers’ Conference 2019. The President highlighted the complementary roles played by the independent Police Service Commission and the Police Complaints Authority.

The President’s emphasis on constitutional safeguards was timely and relevant, especially given the force’s susceptibility to political influence. Constitutional agencies, such as those mentioned by the President, however, though necessary, have not been sufficient to immunize the Police Force fully from extraneous influences; questions as to the efficacy of these constitutional agencies remain.

Security sector reform results, inevitably, in organisational changes. The President’s address to the Annual Officers’ Conference 2020 laid out the organisational changes that were necessary to ensure the force’s ability to protect everyone in every region of the country. The address detailed the practical aspects of police reform.

The police and the public: Public security and public trust, therefore, can be read as a systematic approach to police reform. The President begins by establishing the foundational principles – public confidence, integrity and constitutional safeguards – which should guide systemic reform. He then emphasises the force’s mission in providing service and protection to everyone, regardless of where they live, and sets out a series of organisational changes necessary to give effect to this goal.

The book constitutes a commendable contribution to security sector policy-making. It provides a suite of solid policies aimed at winning public trust and transforming the much maligned force into a modern, professional law-enforcement institution that is capable of fulfilling its mission of service and protection.

The President’s intentions are well-meaning, his policies are sound and his plans for security sector reform, though still a work in progress, are headed in the right direction. He, more than most others, however, would be aware that the success of security reform hinges on the force’s receptiveness to change. He has kick-started such change.

The book, The police and the public: public security and public trust, is about policy; practice and performance are different matters. The President, if given the chance, is expected to see this project to a conclusion, one which will require him to overcome any residual resistance to change within the force. If there is anyone with the will to achieve this, it is David Granger.