The renaming of the Felix Austin Police College to the Guyana Police Force Academy, was a decision which stemmed from the five year agreement which was signed between the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the University of Guyana (UG), according to Mark Ramotar, head of the GPF’s Corporate Communications Unit.
The Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed in October of last year between then Senior Superintendent of Police Calvin Brutus, now Assistant Commissioner, and UG’s Vice Chancellor, Dr Paloma Mohamed-Martin.
“It is part of the strategic plan of the Guyana Police Force to have a Police Academy so when Mr. Brutus and the University of Guyana signed the five year agreement, and part of that agreement is to ensure that the Police Academy is accredited,” Ramotar said when contacted on Wednesday.
Ramotar also said that the academy is expected to be launched soon, but was not sure how soon that launching would be.
Stabroek News had reported that according to a GPF release, Brutus had said that the MoA was birthed from the need for the Force to develop modules for ranks to ensure that the GPF delivers on its mandate in keeping with contemporary best practices for the police in Guyana.
The release had also noted that the MoA caters for a range of programmes to be developed, with others being refined. Brutus explained that part of it has to do with the accreditation of the Police Training College, which he noted is “is just by name… the substance and standard [are] not there.” He said that through the agreement, they hope to get the college accredited in the shortest possible time while also training instructors to deliver the professional part of the programme.
The Police Training School, which was the institution responsible for the recruitment and training of police ranks, had eventually gained the ranking of college, and was renamed the Felix Austin Police College on August 28, 1987.
In a letter to the editor, published in Tuesday’s Stabroek News, former Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) and retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Slowe expressed his disappointment with the Force’s aim to retitle the college and hoped for the decision to be reconsidered, since the current name symbolizes an iconic person, Felix Austin, Esq., DSS, OPM, CPM, who was appointed Commissioner of Police on January, 1967, thus becoming the first Guyanese Police Commissioner after the country attained Independence.
The planned renaming was advertised on the GPF’s Facebook page, which stated “The Guyana Police Force has taken a decision to change the name of the Felix Austin Police College to the Guyana Police Force Academy. We invite interested artists and designers to submit a LOGO and SLOGAN design for the Academy.”
Submissions for the competition will end on Thursday, July 28th, 2022 at 12:00 hours and the winner would receive $300,000, the Facebook page added.
