In light of recent incidents of alleged Police corruption, Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud has stated that several programmes and initiatives have been implemented in an effort to eliminate dishonesty within the Guyana Police Force.
Responding to a question posed by Guyana Times during an interview with reporters, Persaud said he was very concerned about the prevalence of corruption within the GPF, and has taken steps to rid the Force of such practices.

The Commissioner noted that measures have been put in place to ensure accountability of ranks by preventing and investigating unprofessional behaviour. He added that the Force has been proactive in this regard, but pointed out that corruption was not limited to the Police. He stated that corruption is a global phenomenon that manifests itself in every single sector of society.

“We are very concerned, but we know that there is no way we’ll have a Force of close to 5000 and don’t have people who behave bad. There is no organisation with that kind of size that everybody will be clean and straight, but it is how we positioned ourselves (to tackle it),” the Commissioner said.

According to Persaud, corruption is a reality that needs to be dealt with collectively. “So we could tell members of the public when the traffic man stop you for a violation and ask you to leave a raise, you ask for your ticket or go to court instead of doing that. Don’t encourage it, but a lot of times, persons are more than often willing to (encourage it). A lot of times, they (the public) are making these offers and so if you encourage a corrupt Police Force that is how they will respond to matters where you are the victim. Don’t expect them to be professional when you are corrupting them in the streets,” the Top Cop stated.

Of recent, there has been heightened involvement of ranks from the various law enforcement agencies, including the Police Force, in illegal activities. Earlier this month, a Police Officer was arrested and admitted to robbing an East Coast Demerara taxi driver.

Back in September, a Corporal and three Constables were charged for accepting a $6 million bribe to release a vehicle reportedly carrying cocaine and cash that was intercepted during a road block in Berbice.

The Police Commissioner revealed that this year the Force has restructured the various divisional headquarters to have better oversight of the ranks as well as to boost efficiency. However, he noted that some commanders are slow in implementing this new structure.

Below each Divisional Commander is an Operational Officer, who is responsible for the Enquiries Office; Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Office; Traffic Department and Community Projects.

There is also a Personnel Officer who looks at performance evaluation, identifying training needs, implementing division training programmes, finding the right man for the right job and other related matters.

Additionally, there is a Divisional Base Information Management Unit in each Division, which does analysis of crime and traffic and later advise the various Commanders during the weekly briefing on various matters. The Unit also monitors and evaluates deployments to see whether they are effective or need to be changed.

With these steps taken, Commissioner Persaud is optimistic that the Force will operate more smoothly, although it will take some time to fully implement the changes.

“Over time, we will achieve it, it was introduced this year and we are seeing some level of implementation, but not fully…All these (are being done) to achieve the level of efficacy that is desired within the Guyana Police Force,” the Commissioner noted.