Permanent training of police needed, amid numerous constitutional rights lawsuits

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 June 2026, 23:26 by Writer

Attorney General Anil Nandlall has recommended a permanent training programme on how members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) at all ranks should implement laws, amid concern about the high number of civil lawsuits being filed against the police for alleged violation of constitutional rights, a top government legal officer said on Thursday.

Addressing the opening of a joint Police-Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) training programme under the Partnership of the Caribbean and European Union (PACE) Justice Project which is co-financed by the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Deputy Solicitor-General Shoshanna Lall said Mr Nandlall had already held talks with DPP Director Shalimar Hack and UNDP officials about having such a training programme that would deal strictly with criminal matters such as legal practice and procedure, constitution, relevant statutes, new legislation, amendments to legislation, issuance of tickets for traffic offences, the interplay of constitutional rights and freedoms of civilians, repealed laws and case laws.

“There is a gap in that area,” she said.

While crediting the police for providing “yeoman service”, she stressed the importance of them understanding and implementing the law.

Ms Lall said the records at the Attorney General’s Chambers show that numerous lawsuits were being filed against the police force for alleged violation of constitutional rights.

“At the AG Chambers, I speak from a personal point of view; we have a particular vantage point. When the police run afoul, and not all obviously, but when the police do run afoul of these rights and freedoms, civil proceedings are filed and we have to defend and this is perhaps like the largest portion of what we go to court for at AG Chambers. Constitutional actions are filed almost every other day and we have to defend the actions of the police,” she said. 

The Deputy Solicitor-General added that with the judiciary’s launching of the criminal code rules later this year, police, prosecutors, judges and lawyers would have to undergo additional training.