D2 posted:independence the forces had leadership as West Point trained Major Sateur (sp). Burnham began to discriminate actively against Indians joining.
While Burnham did discriminate the disciplined forces in Guyana were always predominantly black and in fact the British wanted it that way as part of their "divide and rule". That pretense of balance was a result of the PPPs complaints that the police were biased against their base because it was predominantly black.
During the colonial era the British put in place standards based on height and weight, knowing full well that in the early 20th C this effectively meant that Indians couldn't meet the requirements. The role of the police was to control the estate workers and how better if they were of different ethnicities. Once the ethnic composition became boiled in to the psyche then it almost became cultural, so in Guyana blacks didn't aspire to own groceries and Indians didn't aspire to become policemen.