Dear Editor,
It was instructive to listen to what the Minister of State was quoted on TV recently as saying about a proposed strategy for fighting crime.
A reported high level strategy meeting was mentioned – this activity in response to much publicised observations about a significant increase in the incidence of crime, meaning such misbehaviours as robbery, acts of violence, murder, etc, as reflected in statistics presented by the Commissioner of Police – an audit that has been ritualised over the years.
What some readers, amongst others, have not seen, is any analysis of these numbers which could possibly indicate directions towards counter-action by the security forces: basic indicators like the neighbourhood, timing, methodology, type of persons or objects targeted, personnel involved; and, of course, other indicators about which the force knows best.
In this connection therefore it was heartening to learn from the Minister of State that the anti-crime task force being coordinated would include criminologists, amongst others, of whom several are desperately needed.
For there is crying need to research and interpret the various sociological backgrounds of those criminals who are actually caught, and of the environment which breeds them. There is no question that our current security resources are hardly equipped to interact with this type of criminal or suspect in a way that the motivation for his or her action can be interpreted with a modicum of accuracy.
The fact is that it takes little effort for the diligent observer to recognise how deliberately emasculated has been the capacity of the police force over past years and the deleterious effect there has been on what individual and/or group capabilities there may have been. The force was simply part of a disabled body of several related institutions, in a system that was not necessarily designed to effectively curb crime and punish it.
It could not possibly have gone unnoticed that the comparative ineffectualness of the prosecutorial process helped to embolden contemplated criminal acts.
Given the imposed, as well as inherent, limitations of the security forces concerned, any review of their crime-fighting capacity must start with taking account of the competency of the leadership team, whose members (from this perspective at least) have not been unaccustomed to following misleading directions – a debilitating experience which undermined self-confidence and suppressed the ability or intention to be innovative. The cumulative result has been an inability to think outside the box, thus subscribing to mediocrity of individual and organisational performance. So much so that the vaunted reforms of the last administration yielded minimal positive results. They merely conjured up illusions of achievement.
Therefore in creating a strategic plan of any kind it must be recognised that the methodologies, logistics, technologies and execution can only be as good as the assessed competencies available. This must mean that the resource gaps would better be filled from external sources, the more urgently the better.
Such action should be complemented by exposing as many of the leadership team and specialist officers to relevant overseas training and development as possible, so that eventually they can together infuse a new dimension of intelligence to the organisation’s management and operations.
But of course any long-term strategy must also address recruitment standards. It cannot be gainsaid that the quality of intake, as evidenced, does not necessarily reflect a dynamic policy of recruitment for growth. So that with but a few exceptions entry standards immediately indicate a level of non-productivity. Such a situation urges the reason for upgrading the force’s training and development unit to a much more expert and creative standard, again assisted by external support.
When last checked there were still indications of the rudimentary implementation of the cadetship intake into the Police Force, but it is unclear what developmental programme is being pursued. This is an aspect of human resource development which begs to be more strategically operationlised.
In the meantime full support is given to the recommendation adverted to by the Minister of State regarding the identification of non-police jobs to be filled by civilian personnel, thus releasing more capabilities for actual police work. It is an approach that has been implemented in one or more police authorities in the UK, for example.
This transition should be pursued with a will, but it may just be necessary to consult with the Police Service Commission. The problem here however is the uncertainty surrounding the legal status of that commission, integrated as it now is with the Public Service Commission, a situation which does not appear to reconcile with the relevant provisions of the Guyana Constitution: Article 210 (1) reads as follows:
“210 (1) The Police Service Commission shall consist of –
(a) a Chairman appointed by the President acting after meaningful consultation with the Leader of the Opposition from among members appointed under subparagraph (C);
(b) the Chairman of the Public Service Commission;
(c) four members appointed by the President upon nomination by the National Assembly after it has consulted such bodies as appear to it to represent the majority of the members of the Police Force and any other such body it deems fit:
Provided that a person should be disqualified for appointment as a member of the Commission if he is a public officer.
“(2) Subject to the provisions of the next following paragraph, the office of an appointed member of the Police Service Commission shall become vacant at the expiration of three years from the date of his appointment or at such earlier time as may be specified in the instrument by which he was appointed.”
Notwithstanding, one would hope that the strategy spoken of goes past crime-fighting, and substantively addresses crime prevention, utilising the intelligence gleaned from sociological analyses by criminologists and others. One would also expect that crime-prevention activities will be well supported by imaginative and well-articulated information and education programmes aimed at various publics: the private sector bodies and NGOs should be recognised as prime collaborators.
Having regard to all the above, final reflection suggests the need for building a knowledgeable human resource management capacity, preferably embedded in an independent, professional and proactive Police Service Commission.
Yours faithfully,
E B John
