Time for politically-free reform of the police force

Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 October 2024, 18:48 by Writer

In the wake of stirring allegations about the legitimacy of hundreds of millions of dollars in deposits associated with Assistant Police Commissioner Calvin Brutus and his family, as well as a controversial decision to appoint Mr Clifton Hicken as substantive police commissioner, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) on Monday recommended politically-free reforms.

“Develop a comprehensive reform programme to be promoted as a single package rather than something palatable to political parties,” the GHRA said.

In 2017, then President David Granger had instructed the then Police Service Commission (PSC) that he had inherited from the People’s Progressive Party Civic administration in 2015 not to go ahead with the appointment of p0lice officers, a move that the High Court subsequently ruled as unconstitutional. After the PPPC returned to office in 2020, the Irfaan Ali-led administration had refused to gazette the names of officers of the Granger-appointed PSC. Then a Senior Police Superintendent, Mr Brutus had mounted a legal challenge of the promotions by the Paul Slowe-led PSC on the grounds that a number of ranks had had pending disciplinary matters.

The Police Service Commission, appointed by the President, noted the GHRA, is “absorbed in matters of promotion and administration and is not convincingly impartial politically.” According to the GHRA, it is clear that the symptoms afflicting the Guyana Police Force cannot be treatable as shortcomings of individual officers, or political party. “Innumerable external consultations for reform have floundered amidst party politicking,” the association said.

Saying there is no body or mechanism specifically dedicated to oversee the GPF, that association added that even the Police Complaints Authority was being ignored by that law enforcement agency. “Devolved agencies such as the Police Complaints Authority tend to become sinecures for retired judges and treated with disdain by the GPF itself,” That association wants its proposed National Commission on Democratic Policing or some other similar mechanism, to hold a national conversation in partnership with communities to propose independent professional scrutiny of policing services rather than rely on an internal Office of Professional Responsibility.

Consequently, the GHRA said the momentum for evolution of the GPF as a modern police service tasked with ensuring accountability and promoting a peaceful, multicultural Guyana is non-existent. The more pervasive formative influence on the GPF remains the colonial militia in which it had its origins.

The GHRA said as part of its proposed reform programme, the GPF’s functions must not be seen as militaristic. That association’s recommendation stemmed from its observation that the military characteristics of the GPF include the multiplicity of ranks of seniority, over-centralisation which insulates the GPF against accountability to communities in which it functions, regional commanders with low or no status in communities and little control over budgets, police stations that appear more prepared to repel an assault than welcoming of community members, and complete absorption and all-encompassing focus on crime-fighting rather than intelligence-led preventative security.

Other recommendations include the creation of an oversight body by bi-partisan agreement to ensure broad-based receptivity of the Commission and the delivery of policing in inclusive partnership with communities with maximum delegation of authority.

The association said its proposed National Commission on Democratic Policing must include technically-qualified people, and persons with the energy and inclination for consulting widely in an active outreach programme, not sitting behind closed doors.

The GHRA said the two major political parties are once again at loggerheads, this time over the constitutionality of President Ali’s decision to confirm Police Commissioner Hicken substantively in his post, despite being over the age of retirement. “While Attorney-General (Anil) Nandlall claims constitutional support can be found for the new appointment, opposition lawyers maintain the Constitution only allows extensions to existing posts for over-age persons, not promotions.”

This on-going row vies for newsworthiness with the astonishing saga involving assistant commissioner Brutus and the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU).

“These events raise legal, ethical, constitutional and accountability issues. This condition is redeemable only by transformational reforms in all areas,” said the decades-old GHRA whose legitimacy has been questioned by the People’s Progressive Party Civic-led administration.

The GHRA said while privatization of security enables the business sector to take care of itself, the cost of electronics, security firms and guard services further distances the well-off from the population in general. The GHRA said security as a national and public service could not be outsourced to an unaccountable private sector. “Moreover, with a much larger volume of money now moving through the society (hence the wedding gifts) accountable policing is becoming a more urgent requirement,” the association said in relation to Mr Brutus’ explanation to a financial institution.