Citing too much centralization of decision making and “anachronistic” procedures, a complete management audit of the Guyana Police Force has been recommended by the Commission of Inquiry (COI) which investigated the fatal shooting of three Linden protesters last July.
“We recommend very strongly that a complete management audit of the Guyana Police Force be carried out so that there can be a comprehensive assessment of what is needed to modernize the organization. If this is done it could signal a break from practices which are inimical to proper policing and endorse those which are consonant with international best practices,” the report, which was presented to President Donald Ramotar on Thursday, said.
The government in December last year had announced plans for a major overhaul of the police force, including implementation of long outstanding measures to reform its management and operation.
It stated that during the inquiry, indications were given from time to time related to “probable deficiencies” of the police force in its strength and establishment, its forensic capabilities, the recruit training curriculum including that related to human rights, human relations and firearms and the use of police personnel to perform duties which civilians seem more suited to carry out. The report also cited the intelligence capacity and investigative proficiency, the internal and external accountability, service delivery and resources.
“We venture the view that such an audit team should be comprised of local, regional and Commonwealth experts, ‘to carry out a structural and functional review of the Guyana Police Force and recommend both short term measures and a longer term strategic development programme to increase police effectiveness and public reassurance’,” the report said.
Part of the mandate of the COI was to “make recommendations, implementation of which will assist the Guyana Police Force in effectively and professionally discharging their responsibilities for the maintenance of law and order in the aforesaid community of Linden and similar communities without endangering their own safety and that of innocent persons.” The COI has found the police responsible for the fatal shooting of the three Linden protesters on July 18 last year. They were among other Lindeners protesting against higher electricity tariffs.
The report noted the Lindeners’ right to peacefully demonstrate and that they had applied for the required police permission to march. This was granted with conditions attached to ensure that the rights of the citizens were balanced. “The evidence revealed that the conditions were breached and therein was the birth of the ensuing problems,” the report said. It cited the blocking of the Mackenzie-Wismar bridge and that persons going about their lawful business were unlawfully denied access to the bridge and some were set upon and beaten. The police in those circumstances had the obligation imposed by law to prevent that unlawful action from taking place and/or continuing, the report said.
Alerted
In terms of police action, the report noted that the police knew beforehand of possible disturbances. “That information was sufficient to have alerted the police hierarchy to the fact that danger lurked ominously around the corner and that operational initiatives were necessary to prevent it. A reasonable citizen would have expected that the police would have taken control of the access and egress points of the bridge, perhaps before dawn, and would have deployed personnel on the bridge to ensure that protestors could not have dominated the area. This was not done and absence of that type of proactive action gave freedom to the unlawfully inclined,” the report said.
In noting that on July 18, only a “half unit” of Tactical Services Unit (TSU) ranks comprising 17 persons, was deployed to the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge at about 11:20am, which was then swarmed by protesters and subsequently ordered to return to the police station, the commissioners said that a full unit should have been deployed at the bridge shortly after their arrival in Linden to take control and prevent its blockage and should not have been ordered to return to the station.
“The initial and indeed the subsequent action by the protestors could have been prevented had the police been proactive. It seems clear to us that the training related to crowd control needs to be re-visited and that junior and senior officers need to be the beneficiaries of this,” the report said.
Referring to the police orders at 6pm to clear the bridge before dark, the report said that the police presence at the scene was “clearly woefully inadequate and the attempt to take control of the scene at that late hour was inexplicable. The ground command was weak and depended too heavily on long distance discretion and instructions from the Acting Commissioner of Police.”
“There appears to be a real need for training in crisis management. Things were allowed to happen rather than preventing things from happening. There is a need for better co-ordinated planning of operations of this nature,” the report stated.
Use of force
It added that there is a clear need for the revision of the use of force policy in order to adopt international best practices. The commission said that the evidence of ASP Todd is instructive. “He testified before the Commission that “I then went on my telephone. I then went on my cell phone and informed SS Hicken about the behaviour of the protestors. He informed me that my objective was to clear the bridge before it got dark. I continued to use the siren and I spoke through the loudhailer and read the proclamation. Bricks and bottles began to come to the Unit at a rate of two minutes per session, a fast rate, from all angles. Persons on the Unit were hit. I, also, was hit in my head. I then went back on my cell phone and informed Mr. Hicken that the Unit was being attacked with bricks, bottles and other instruments. He instructed me to use tear-smoke and shotgun, which is the SOP to deal with crowd dispersal”,” the report said.
“It is to be observed that the attack did not involve firearms and although there is evidence of Mr. Todd hearing what sounded like gunshots these sounds did not come from the crowd in the immediate vicinity of the bridge. Had the police been provided with riot shields there would have been no need to discharge shotguns. It is the case that Mr. Todd who discharged the shotguns did so on the instructions of the absent Mr. Hicken who told him “to continue to proceed and clear the bridge by using the minimal force (with) the tear-smoke and the shotgun”. Even though Mr. Todd using the `shotgun…discharged a round into the ground to take off the velocity, to scare and chase the protesters who were gathered’ this was fraught with danger,” the report said.
“Discharging a shotgun is hardly the way to “scare” persons and ought never to have been used in the circumstances. As it transpired several persons were shot, some multiple times resulting in various degrees of injury as shown from the medical certificates which were tendered in evidence. There is no evidence that one shot was discharged at a specific human target who was pelting the police with an object capable of causing death or serious injury. The shots were fired randomly causing injury to whoever was in the path and range of the pellets,” it said.
The commission said that firing in that way in similar circumstances should never be repeated. “Even if the use of the shotgun was reasonable, and we do not conclude that it was, it cannot be that it is used negligently or recklessly,” the report said. “Based on the foregoing we are of the view that the policy on the use of force should be reviewed and done urgently,” it said.
Broken down
Meantime, with regards to the relationship between the police and citizens, the report said that there is no doubt that the relationship between the police and the Lindeners has broken down. “We do believe that restoration can be achieved, but it must be approached in a methodical and purposeful way,” the commission said adding that they believe community based policing is the way forward. While declining to prescribe how this should be implemented, the commission referred to some models and said that they are aware that a form of community policing exists, “but from what we were told enormous room for expansion and reshaping exists.”
The commission also pointed out that a Police Complaints Authority exists but it seems to be constrained by lack of sufficient resources and is not widely known about. It noted that the Chairman of the Authority had made several requests for independent investigators to be made available to that body but to no avail while he has also participated in many outreach visits.
“The police must be held accountable for their behaviour and where abuses occur these should be independently investigated in a professional way and thereafter appropriate action be taken whether through criminal, civil or disciplinary proceedings. Such an authority must have the necessary powers and resources to be effective lest citizens demonstrate no confidence in it and the police treat it with disdain. There is legislation in the Region and in the Commonwealth which could be examined and thereafter appropriate provisions be enacted,” the commission recommended. “Police Forces traditionally resist having independent bodies investigate complaints against their members, nevertheless we recommend that the political will be garnered to provide for this. It works,” the commission asserted.
The commissioners said that they felt that a significant number of persons who testified view the police cynically as agents of the government acting solely in the interest of the government and by extension the political party forming the administration. It noted that while there was no concrete evidence presented to substantiate that view, it is said that perception is nine-tenths of reality. “This view can only be changed if there is an insistence on the highest professional behaviour on the part of the police and the government demonstrates that politics and policing cannot be compatible bedfellows,” the report said.
Debilitating
“There is nothing more debilitating to proper policing than having political considerations or allegiance influencing the decisions and behaviour of the police to a particular segment of the society which is known or perceived to be antagonistic to a political persuasion,” the commission said. “Our observations are intended to deal with the perception and our urging is that the perception be not ignored but that urgent steps be taken to deal with it as if it were a reality,” it added.
The report said that the Lindeners complained bitterly and with justification about human rights abuses although the behaviour of some was calculated to create mayhem and generally to break the law. “We recommend that the government urgently implements the “Human Rights Standards and Practice for the Police” as developed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, New York and Geneva, 2004,” the commission said. “This should form an integral part of the recruit training programme, and for all ranks and officers on-going carousel courses. If the police abide the United Nation’s standards, Guyana Police Force will be transformed into a modern, efficient and professional organization, the envy of all civilized societies,” it said.
Meantime, in relation to the management audit, the commission said that during examination of the relevant operations of the police force during the inquiry, elements of inaccuracy and unreliability characterized the record keeping. “It was with some difficulty that we were able to have particular records synchronised and reconciled. This weakness has to be addressed as it can affect discipline, operations, accountability, etc,” the report said.
“We got a sense that there is too much centralization of the decision making process and that this has the potential to affect the efficiency of ground commanders. On the 18th of July 2012 several decisions which should have been made based on the dynamism on the ground were referred to persons who were away from the action and could not have had a proper and full appreciation of how the events were unfolding,” the commission added. It noted that Senior Superintendent Hicken was giving instructions by telephone when his presence at the scene could have been more effective and Todd and the TSU were withdrawn from the bridge when control and command were necessary.
“There was no indication that the senior officers in Linden met, assessed the situation, developed an agreed approach and executed it. The Commissioner of Police was a remote participant giving instructions. Having regard to the way things were going and the potential for great danger to life, limb and property his on the spot presence before nightfall could have made a great difference. The situation warranted someone of a higher rank than Mr. Hicken being there and being seen to be in charge making decisions, giving instructions and overseeing the entire operations. The police at the bridge seemed to have lacked an objective throughout the day and when dusk approached the conveyed instruction to ‘clear the bridge’ appeared to have taken them by surprise,” the report said.
It added that some of the procedures for engagement of the police before carrying out operations “appear to be very militaristic and aspects of their standing operational procedures support that position.”
