National Security Advisor to the President, Gerry Gouveia yesterday said that the name of the Police’s Felix Austin Training College will not be changed.
On his Facebook page above a letter that appeared in Stabroek News on the matter, Gouveia said “The police Training Facility will remain named after its first commissioner of police.
`FELIX AUSTIN’”.
His statement followed days of criticism over a plan to change the name of the college named after the first Guyanese Police Commissioner to the Guyana Police Academy.
Last week, the police public relations department said that 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).
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,” Head of the GPF’s Corporate Communications Unit Mark Ramotar said when contacted on Wednesday.
In a letter to the editor, published in Tuesday’s Stabroek News, former Chairman of the Police Service Commission 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.
