Commissioner of Police, Leslie James has said that reform of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) will be more visible by March 2019.
Addressing media operatives at his first press conference since taking the reins of the crime-fighting agency, the Commissioner said, “As you would have recognised, we are deliberately rolling out a plan which flowed from recommendations and by March 2019 there will be a much-reformed Guyana Police Force (GPF). Three broad categories are being dealt with and these are Human Resource Management, Training and Infrastructure.”
Accordign to the Department of Public Information (DPI), the Commissioner said with the upgrade of police stations, citizens can expect a higher quality of service by ranks of the Force. Under the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP) a number of police stations are to be upgraded to reflect modern crime-fighting methods.
“I must report that those stations are outfitted with modern type units, for example, the one-way mirror, units dealing with forensic type interviews, domestic violence among some others. That is all towards ensuring better interaction between members of the communities and the policemen and women who would be deployed at the various stations. They will be in a much comfortable environment and it will bolster our efforts to give better service to the citizenry,” Commissioner James was quoted by DPI as saying.
One such police station was recently commissioned and is being used as the Head Quarters of “E” Division, Region 10, at Mackenzie Linden while another is expected to be commissioned shortly, in Aurora Region Two, Pomeroon-Supenaam.
According to Commissioner James, the new GPF’s hierarchy is also making moves to strengthen the Force’s training capacity and has revived several boards it deems important to its growth.
“In terms of our further development, our training institutions across the country Georgetown, Berbice and Essequibo, they will also see much-needed reform. We have also looked at our Training Board and at our Traffic Advisory Board among some others. We have sought to re-establish those boards because it was determined that they are very important once this Force is to remain relevant. Even in our PR department, you will see shortly, a boost in terms of what was recommended to us,” the Top Cop said.
Commissioner James on Thursday held his first press conference, 56 days after being appointed. He succeeds Retired Commissioner of Police, Seelal Persaud and takes the helm from acting Commissioner, David Ramnarine.
