Dear Editor,
It is public knowledge that the police have reduced the duration of their recruit training course from six months to sixteen weeks. I am not certain what the circumstances were that led to the reduction or who initiated that abbreviation. The vexed question is, are we sacrificing quality for quantity?
My last check with the major police forces across the Caribbean disclosed that their recruit training lasts for not less than six months. My groundings with Dr Carl Williams, Commissioner of Police of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and some members of his high command revealed that their training lasts for six months. In their recruitment process applicants are subjected to polygraph testing. In addition, the aspirants are taken to assessment centres where trained assessors conduct a series of exercises or events to check for attitudes and behaviour, including psychological behaviour. An applicant may be a graduate from UWI, or possess ten CXC Grade Ones, be physically fit and have no criminal record but he may display psychotic behaviour. If he fails the assessment he will be denied entry into the JCF.
Back to Guyana. According to the police there are over one thousand two hundred applicants awaiting to be inducted into the force. Apart from looking for academic achievement, physical fitness and a criminal record, the police must evaluate attitudes and behaviour. They will have persons joining the force but a better quality of inductees into their system.
I scanned the recruit training programme. It has four modules. It is lavish in technical skills but tight-fisted in people skills. Very little is there in the training programme to develop or enhance people skills. I am aware that ranks must be technically competent to perform their roles as specified under Section 3 (2) of the Police Act Chapter 16:01 and those imposed on them by society. They must be au fait with the laws, police duties, policies and procedures, but equally important they must develop people skills. Those are interpersonal people management skills that are required to help them to effectively deal with people and to understand and adapt to the changing environment.
Woodward and Buchholz posited that technical competence used to be the most important thing. Now and in the years ahead people skills are the most important.
Under the leadership of Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud, the paradigm has shifted sharply towards community oriented policing and problem solving. The police are now required not only to solve crimes but to solve problems in the various communities they serve and protect. This approach is bearing fruit and will continue to do so. Ranks are required to interact with various groups of stakeholders. They interact with their superiors, peers, subordinates, friends, relatives and members of the public. The understanding of behaviour is of extreme importance.
According to Harold C Russell and Allan Beigel, behaviour is the major phenomenon that the police officer must deal with. He must not only deal with the behaviour of criminals, but also the behaviour of the general public, the behaviour of his family and his own behaviour. He can no longer regard the study of behaviour as the sole concern of the psychologist and physchiatrist. He must learn more about behaviour and the behavioural sciences to effectively and safely carry out his job.
Twenty-five years ago the Caribbean heads of government adopted a concept called the ‘Ideal Caribbean Person’. It is applicable to the GPF. It fits nicely into Unesco’s Imperatives for Learning. They are: Learn to live together; Learn to be; Learn to do and Learn to learn.
The police can find these imperatives very useful and adopt them at all levels of their training activities, more so entry level training. This will ensure that their members are effective communicators and be better able to manage conflicts. Do you resolve conflict through the barrel of a gun, or by assaulting unarmed peaceful protesters, or whip women and children deep in the Marudi mountains, or resort to the 4B approach ‒ boots, baton, bayonet and bullet? Are you culturally sensitive ‒ we are one people, one nation, one destiny, but we have different cultures even in the working environment. Are you able to police a multi-cultural and diverse society? Are you multilingual ‒ proficient in English, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and computer-use? Do you possess high self-esteem, can manage emotional intelligence, think critically; develop skills; apply knowledge ; have the capacity to act; are able to comprehend; can develop a solid academic base ‒ reading and numeracy ‒ and develop the ability to research and analyse? All of the above and much more must be the common attributes of a policeman’s operational life and can be addressed through training.
I have not yet analysed the methodology and assessment of the training. The Kirkpatrick model of evaluation may be instructive. It has four levels: reaction, learning, behaviour and results. Reaction focuses on the participants’ perception of the training. The learning level focuses on the knowledge and skills required. The behaviour level looks at whether the knowledge or skills are actually applied on the job by observing the participants using what was learnt. The results focus on the department’s return on investment.
Despite numerous human and other challenges the performance of the police over the last few months has been bodacious. There is need for sustainability to cater for greater public confidence in the force. I again make a clarion call for a Behavioural Science Unit to be established in the Guyana Police Force or to have one made available to them.
If behaviour at all levels in the force is not adequately addressed the performance of the police will be prosaic.
Yours faithfully
Clinton Conway
Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police
