–  inspector-general being sought for police force

By Rabindra Rooplall
HOME Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, is seeking to appoint an inspector-general within the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to ensure prisoner’s cells and police stations countrywide are properly maintained.

He made the disclosure on Wednesday at the commissioning of a $60M lock-ups in the compound of the GPF ‘A’ Division headquarters, Brickdam, Georgetown.
The new facility is expected to comfortably house 52 prisoners.

“This is somebody who goes around and inspects and ensures that everything is of a proper and professional standard and I would like to be able to appoint somebody in that role, whether it’s an old policeman or a serving policeman, somebody that goes around and at all levels in respect of the accommodations and to remind our policemen of the training which they have received,” Minister Benn said.

The public pays the taxes and they should feel proud of the GPF, he said. In Trinidad and Tobago, their police force is taking steps to garner feedback on public perception of them.
“With the level of standards, the question of a satisfaction survey of the policemen and women themselves of that service is done, I have already asked to see what we have along those lines in the past and I also hope to interface with the Trinidadians as to the type of questionnaire and the experience they want to derive out of that effort,” Minister Benn said.
Further, he explained that when someone enters a police station, there should be a video camera recording the engagement for reference to the higher command.
“This is so that we are always constantly aware of what we ought to do and that we have opportunities and police websites and other places to complain. We don’t want to go to the Police Complaints Authority or be running to the Office of Professional Responsibility. A lot of the issues seem to be one in which we could gradually work out by engaging with each other and having an understanding of the environment, the challenges and the pitfalls that may be out there in respect of policing,” Benn said.

He demands a high standard of policing and said acting Police Commissioner, Nigel Hoppie, and Deputy Commissioner, Clifton Hicken, are on the same page with him.
“At the end of the day we want to hand over a better situation that which we would have experience when we came here and so whatever the difficulties are it isn’t too late to change and it isn’t too late to have an introspection with respect to our own professional and personal development,” he explained.

MUST SERVE AND PROTECT
The force, he also said, must not engage in brutalisation of prisoners, since the GPF is an organisation that must serve and protect.
Benn emphasised that the quality of service of the GPF and all other disciplined services is not defined by how well ranks are dressed, but by their engagements with the public and the level of respect that is offered even in the times of trouble.

“A high level of professional service and respect must be offered and so we have to recommit ourselves always to the issue of service and protection to the public and our country particularly in the difficult role of policing,” he said.

The lock-up was first constructed under the tenure of former Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, and Minister Benn said it appeared as though the former administration did nothing to make the cells operable over the past five years.

“We have now fixed them to a standard with proper ventilation so that they can be occupied and that the persons we have to take charge of, in a situation where they have to be constrained and confined, that they will be better housed and in a more respectful manner,” Minister Benn said.
The minister is expecting that on random visits to police stations, he does not see dirty mattresses on the floor in cells, dirty lock-ups, or to find the accommodations not properly kept.
These facilities, he said, must be in satisfactory condition and the language and demeanour of policemen and women must be civil when interacting with the public.
Meanwhile, acting Police Commissioner, Nigel Hoppie, said in a world where human rights are given top priority; the GPF has been constantly reviewing its operation to ensure compliance.

“The force serves as a mere custodian of offenders while investigations are ongoing or they are awaiting appearance at court where the innocent or guilty will be determined by the presiding magistrate or judge. It has an implicit responsibility to treat every suspect as innocent until proven guilty,” Hoppie explained.
This mean that the procedures employed and the holding facility used must be in compliance with the required standards, he said.
“In consideration of these factors as others, the GPF has, over the last decade, and before have been constantly reviewing and reviving its strategies and operations so as to deliver its mandate,” the acting top cop said.

With the newly-constructed lock-ups, he said the force will be planting its feet in the right direction as ranks seek to make the country safer and discharge duties with the level of responsibility expected of any law enforcement agency in the 21st century.