Dear Editor
I carefully read a letter in the Kaieteur News, August 26, written by Patrick E Mentore under the captioned ‘GPF can probably learn from the GDF in terms of attracting manpower’, and the rapid response from the police the following day in the same newspaper to certain sections of the missive.
It may not be the right approach to compare the recruitment strategies of the Guyana Police Force with that of the Guyana Defence Force. They are miles apart. Colin Croft, a former West Indies fast bowler, once wrote that the difference between first class cricket and a Test match is about five hundred miles. This may be applicable to the recruitment process between the police and the army.
Both parties recruit for the respective roles they are required to play as stipulated in the laws of Guyana and what society expects of them. Therefore, their strategies to induct persons into their organizations must be vastly different. I served for a number of years as the Training Officer of the GPF with responsibility for recruitment, and also acted as chairman of the Joint Services Training Committee. I am au fait with the recruitment, training policies and procedures of the Joint Services. The only standard entry level into the Joint Services is the Standard Military Officers Course ‒ the Cadet Officers’ Course.
The recruitment issues and concerns faced by the GPF are many. They may be economic, logistical, ethical, cultural, political, racial, competition with private security services and the perceived negative image of the Force as portrayed by certain sections of the print and electronic media. These challenges are surmountable.
The writer subtly touched on strategic management in the country’s number one law enforcement agency ‒ the police.
The GPF Is in the middle of its Five Year Strategic Plan.
The key strategic priorities are: operation priorities, developing partnerships, performance, infrastructure and developing people. In relation to the latter it has a key activity entitled Recruitment and Retention which targeted ten critical areas for action. I would be surprised if despite over twenty-five monthly intrusions by Home Affairs a recruitment strategy was not designed, developed and implemented by the GPF.
In addition, the question that may be asked is how many milestones the Strategic Management has passed since its implementation. I am certain that with the new dispensation, clearer vision and strategic thinking the paradigm has shifted or will be shifted to take the GPF from where it is to where it ought to be.
Although I am a police pensioner I hold no brief for the GPF or the writer, whoever he or she may be. I have a little interest in security.
On occasions I express my views in the media which I now do. Like most citizens, my family and I want to live in safe orderly neighbourhoods. Reducing crime and the fear of crime is a very important measure the police must strive to master. It is a sine qua non. Strategic management and strategic thinking is the way forward for the police.
Yours faithfully,
Clinton Conway
