AT the recently held Guyana Police Force Officers Conference, President David Granger delivered what can be described as a frank, open and no holds barred assessment on what he described as corruption and equally corrupt policemen in the Guyana Police Force.

Few Guyanese, whether former military personnel, allied to, or academically qualified in any related field, are more qualified to bring a world view on security matters than retired Brigadier and former Commander of the Guyana Defence Force, President David Granger, can. Performing the duties as national security adviser for a period in his illustrious military career, President Granger more than most would have had a unique opportunity to graphically observe and analyse the daily functions of the Joint services, especially the Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Police Force.

We further posit, that as a product of the well-known and respected British military brand of training and at other distinguished military schools and academies, President Granger would have been a seminal part of the evolution of the joint services from being colonial oriented, to one that suited the relevant needs of a nation seeking to develop its own national creed of service to the people of the new nation, Guyana.

We need not emphasise the personal premium placed on discipline, and pride in service, displayed by men in uniform in those early years. Particularly, the Guyana Defence Force which, apart from its principal duty of defending Guyana’s sovereignty, also became renowned for performing mercy flights, bringing critically ill persons from the hinterland to the City for medical attention; and the other key security institution, the Guyana Police Force which had continued to perform its national duty of Service and Protection towards upholding the laws of the land.

As commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces, President Granger is very much conscious of his national duties as they pertain to his executive responsibilities, one of which is ensuring a well-trained police force that is led by competent and committed officers for the task of protecting citizens and society from acts of criminality.
His observations towards this critical area of the nation’s law enforcement agency were both piercing and emphatic about the Force’s leadership content, reflecting disappointment, when he stated that a “fish rots from the head.’’

He left no stone unturned, as he exposed what the presence of the cancer of corruption has done to the effectiveness of the Guyana Police Force, through sections of its general leadership category and the less than salutary example this has had on the junior ranks.
Any legitimate state force, military or para military, is defined by the quality of its leadership; for it is this important category that will determine how its ranks perform their sworn duties, in accordance with laid down operational procedures. This must be inclusive of the key input of discipline which must influence all actions, both in and out of the theatre of institutional operations.

In our Editorial, “Bad examples,” of January 08, 2018, it was clearly stated that “No police force can hope to develop that seminal input of integrity in its professional functions, if there are senior ranks who are themselves lawbreakers.”

We further stated “…that senior officers are in the leadership positions of any police organisation, including the Guyana Police Force, it is paramount they understand their positions as role models for those under their command. For that matter, senior officers in any service institution do influence in many ways the organizational growth and development of their young ranks.”

For the scale of corrupt practices that have seen so many policemen over the years being dismissed from the Guyana Police Force, such criminal activities could have only existed with the connivance and involvement of seniors at various levels of the institution. Any rank, irrespective of seniority, must be subjected to disciplinary action when warranted, and be removed from the Force if the infraction is serious enough.

Unquestionably, the President’s observations and analyses about our police are factual, incontrovertible and profound, which point to a determination that steps will be taken to rid the force of its corrupt members. And contrary to the convenient PPP/C statements about witch-hunting and demoralizing of the Force’s senior echelons, such a direction of change, guided and influenced by the Security Sector Reform Programme(SSRP), that the latter opposition party had refused when in government, will ensure a better national police force, having the full confidence of citizens. Further, our police force does not need officers and junior ranks within its fold whose aim is solely to make money out of the misdeeds of others.