PRESIDENT, Dr. Irfaan Ali has called on the Guyana Police Force to “reposition, restructure and rebrand” in an effort to better serve the Guyanese people.
The President issued the charge at the opening of the Police Officers’ Annual Conference at the National Cultural Centre on Thursday.
President Ali told members of the GPF that in order for the force to effectively meet its mission, strategic changes need to be made to ensure a higher level of respect and trust in the force and its ranks.
“We have to repair our image, you have to repair how we are perceived, you have to repair relationships, you have to repair the organisational structure, and we have to repair our brand. Repairing this must be guided by professionalism, must be guided by people and it must be guided by patriotism,” said the Commander-In-Chief.
The three-day conference is being held under the theme, “Enhancing professionalism, police-community relations and confidence through continuous security sector reform and partnerships.”

President Ali, addressing the ranks, stated that while the force has been making significant strides in recent times there is still room for improvement. He noted that “clarity of vision” is one of the most important initiatives that must be undertaken.
He is adamant that the collective GPF must share a command goal and must work together to not just achieve that goal, but to also uphold systems that would allow for efficiency.
President Ali stated that the force needs to understand where it is and where its operations should be, advising that this is the only way the force can gain knowledge of where gaps in its operations and service are.

“I am not asking you to do anything extraordinary, but understand the principal values of a country. You have a right and a duty to defend democracy, part of professional conduct is the way we approach issues of democracy; we could set ourselves aside or we could set our mark, depending on how we approach these issues,” said President Ali.
He added that understanding the weaknesses and strengths places the force at an advantageous position to create policies and systems that could address and rectify those gaps to promote a more efficient and effective Police Force. President Ali also committed that he is willing to ensure that the force gets the necessary support from the government to achieve its goals of serving and protecting the people of Guyana.

WANT THE BEST
“I want the best for the force. I will support the best for the force. I will work every day to get the best outcome, but there are some boundaries that inherently all of us must swear to uphold and protect, there is no compromise on those principals [sic] and boundaries,” he said.
He noted that the force is not short of competent and qualified persons and advised that once they have clarity and cohesion of vision on the goals of the GPF, they must come up with innovative ways to achieve them.
Commissioner of Police (ag), Nigel Hoppie stated that the force is committed to moving forward and creating systems that would allow for a higher level of service. He stated that while the past year has been a challenging one, it has allowed the force to rise to the challenge and create innovative ways to utilise its resources to achieve its goals.

“The Guyana Police Force was able to provide adequate security for the General and Regional Elections, as well as the transition of the new government. Our collaborative effort with members of the Joint Services in our continuous efforts in the fight against the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic has been significant and should not go unnoticed.”
He stated that while the police have no direct control over crime, no effort has been spared in the force’s campaign to provide Guyanese with a safe country through the utilisation of methods of detection and prevention.
“During the year, we have experienced a 14 per cent increase in road fatalities; however, we have also recorded a 5.9 decrease in serious crime between January 1 to March 1 of this year.

We have recorded a 46.6 decrease in serious crime and 19.6 decrease in fatal accidents compared to the same period in 2020,” Hoppie stated.
He further stated that the GPF will continue to work diligently to promote security through its undertaking of raids, roadblocks, robust anti-crime patrols and intelligence network, bolstered by divisional anti-crime units and analytical work by way of data collection through the integrated crime-information system.
Additionally, the police commissioner shared appreciation for the invaluable assistance being given to the GPF by members of the 186 community policing groups across the country, whom he stated play a pivotal role in crime management within the communities. He anticipates that this partnership will be further strengthened in the future.
Hoppie stated that over the next three days, the focus for the annual police conference will be to review, re-examine and analyse the force’s operations, policies and strategies to deal with crime and the other responsibilities in keeping with its mandate.