Some 1,000 members of the Guyana Police Force on May 13th, graduated from the COPSQUAD 2000 initiative through the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund under the Spotlight Initiative.
The COPSQUAD initiative training course includes aspects on interrogation, assessment of safety, counselling, response to people who visit a police station to make a complaint, and how case reports should be written. Ranks are also being trained on how to deal with the alleged perpetrators and it was noted that counselling done by the ministry has helped a number of persons who physically assaulted their partners. Upon the successful completion of the training, ranks are outfitted with a badge which will help victims to easily identity the ranks they are reporting to.
A release from the Ministry of Human Services on May 13 said that in February 2023, 500 officers had graduated, bringing the number of officers trained to effectively handle cases of Gender-Based Violence to approximately 1,500.
Varying figures have been given for the number of cops trained. On September 1st last year, the Ministry had said that 1600 officers had been trained following the launch of the programme on August 24, 2021.
In her remarks at the event on May 13th at the National Cultural Centre, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud was quoted as saying, “For everything to improve everyone needs to hold themselves to a very high standard, our country is on a fast-paced developmental trajectory and our Force is critical and crucial in that development that is happening across the country. This is an area of so many talking points where we are not seeming to get this under control, this is the area we must work on the hardest on because it affects the most precious human resource, notably our women.”
She also told the graduates, “When that report (of domestic violence) is made, I urge you to treat it with every seriousness it deserves, make sure the report is written and submitted in a timely way so that prosecution can happen. This is the kind of thing that relates to the overall peace of our country… it is peace in homes, peace among family members, peace in the community and it starts with our attitudes and behaviours and our response to it…”
“So as you graduate today, I hope you take this training and take it with the kind of seriousness so that it does not become just another type of training. This must be the transformative catalyst that we want to see, where the Guyana Police Force would earn the recognition of the citizens of the country because of their proactiveness when it comes to combatting domestic violence…” the Minister asserted.
Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, who was also present at the ceremony, commended Minister Persaud for her efforts while acknowledging the fruitful relationship that exists between the two ministries.
“I just want to thank Minister Vindhya Persaud for keeping us on the straight and narrow and taking us to higher levels with the support of the United Nations and other persons from the international communities and to say that we should all be blessed.”
Meanwhile, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Yeşim Oruç, remarked, “I am happy and absolutely privileged and thrilled to be part of associating the United Nations and our partnership with the European Union to this effort on Gender Based Violence and eliminating Gender Based Violence through the Spotlight Initiative, the largest investment in Gender Based Violence by the European Union through a partnership with UN and the Government of Guyana…”
Several of the officers who completed the training expressed enthusiasm about the programme.
Corporal Jaisingh, who is attached to the Criminal Investigation Department said, “It increased my knowledge a great lot, I had known before then going on the force I gained a bit more knowledge and I will use the training to deal with it accordingly.”
Taneisha Ramdhan, a 911 responder related, “I just graduated from the COPSQUAD training and this training has been a wonderful experience for me as a 911 call taker. I would be able to take reports of people who are being abused and I could be able to assist them as fast as possible.”
And Corporal John Munesh, a prosecutor at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court said, “This training has impacted me a lot given the fact that I used to work patrol before and I used to be a first responder to domestic violence case and it taught me to identify and face certain challenges that victims may face and how I go about dealing with the situation more so it would help me in my prosecution to ask questions which are more relevant so I would not have the victim relive or think what happened. Initially I thought domestic violence was just between husband and wife but I know it is between family.”
