Acting Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken yesterday told his Regional Commanders to “put your houses in order” by Monday in order to effectively serve the nation, according to a statement yesterday from the Guyana Police Force.
Hicken was quoted as saying “Commanders, you are accountable for the officers and ranks under your command. I don’t want you to micro-manage but you must have a hands-on and effective approach to managing your respective divisions.”
The charge was delivered yesterday during a closed-door Executive Leadership Team (ELT) meeting with the 12 divisional commanders as well as the executive leadership of the Police Force.
Notably absent from the meeting was Deputy Commissioner with responsibility for law enforcement Wendell Blanhum. The release said that he was “unavoidably absent”.
The Force’s leadership was represented by Deputy Commissioner- Operations Ravindradat Budhram; Head of Special Branch Senior Superintendent Errol Watts; Head of the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) Senior Superintendent Fazal Karimbaksh; and Head of the GPF’s Corporate Communications Unit, Mark Ramotar.
Commander Regional Division #1, Superintendent Himnauth Sawh; Commander Region #2, Superintendent Shivpersaud Bacchus; Commander Region #3, Senior Superintendent Mahendra Siwnarine; Commander Region #4A, Assistant Commissioner Simon McBean; Commander Region #4B, Woman Superintendent Denise Griffith; Commander Region #4C, Senior Superintendent Khali Pareshram; Commander Region #5, Senior Superintendent Kurleigh Simon; Commander Region #6, Superintendent Boodnarine Persaud; Commander Region #7, Superintendent Dion Moore; Commander Region #8, Senior Superintendent Michael Kingston; Commander Region #9, Superintendent Raphael Rose; and Commander Region #10, Superintendent Hugh Winter were all present at the meeting.
Hicken was recently elevated to the post of acting Top Cop following the departure of substantive Police Commissioner Nigel Hoppie on pre-retirement leave. His appointment was welcomed by both praise and criticisms from all quarters with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) calling for his confirmation to the post while the Opposition PNCR declared that the elevation is illegal owing to the lack of consultation with the Leader of the Opposition – a post that has been vacant for some 72 days now.
At yesterday’s meeting, Hicken told his commanders that they need to “wake up” and “get busy” while calling for a cohesive command structure. He pledged the executive leadership’s support for a more cohesive command structure that would see all divisional leaders working in unison as “one body with a common purpose to serve and protect.”
He also said standardisation is necessary in order for the Police Force to achieve this cohesiveness at the commanders’ level.
“And so, gone are the days when you’re going to have one commander with all the knowledge and the other commanders searching for knowledge. We don’t want a half-balanced Police Force. We want all the commanders to be doing the same thing across the spectrum. And so commanders will communicate more often than ever and learn from each other’s experiences and best practices,” Hicken was quoted as saying.
He also warned that anyone who “swims against the tide” will be doing so in isolation sending a signal that he not going to tolerate any dissent with the direction the Force is moving in.
The acting Top Cop also advised the commanders to introspect and reassess their operations stressing that there will be no room for compromising their professional integrity.
Hicken told his commanders to ensure that they go out into the communities in their respective divisions and interact with the residents as a means of fostering better relations and understanding the challenges in the areas they lead.
“It is mandatory that you interact with the communities more often now than ever,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner – Administration Calvin Brutus, also spoke at length with the commanders. He addressed some of the administrative issues plaguing the divisions as well as the entirety of the Force.
Among the issues that Brutus spoke on are – the GPF’s strategic plan 2022 to 2026, training, diversity and recruitment, decentralization of services, community relations programme, infrastructure development, vehicle inspection and maintenance, inventories at stations, general returns and paying attention to the standing orders, theft of GPF’s assets, efforts being made to change and update the Force’s Standing Orders.
On Tuesday, Hicken met with police inspectors and on Monday with sergeants.
