Force needs restructuring to maximize resource use
by Shirwin Campbell
Guyana Chronicle
September 26, 2003
The management of the Guyana Police Force should be restructured in order to maximize the efficient use of the resources at the disposal of the Force.
So urged Mr. Ramon Gaskin in his capacity as a private citizen when he met with members of the Disciplined Forces Commission yesterday.
In Mr. Gaskin's view, the most pressing issue with the GPF is the improper allocation of human, financial and other resources.
To the amusement of the commissioners and those attending the hearing, he used a recent event to illustrate his point.
He informed the members of the panel that the summons for him to appear at the DFC hearing was served on him by four policemen and the only police car from Providence Police Station.
He added that the senior rank was an African and an Indian also accompanied the four. To suppressed laughter he noted that an Amerindian rank was "armed to the teeth."
This he described as terrible mismanagement of the Police Force, noting its allocation for 2003 was $2.8B.
Glancing occasionally at his report, which was submitted prior to his appearance, Gaskin stated that he could identify 13 areas where ranks of the force are involved in non-core activities.
According to his analysis some one thousand ranks are tied up in doing work that does not fall within the ambit of Police duties, reducing its ability to perform real police work.
This results in a failure to respond appropriately in the fight against crime and citizens in turn have cultivated the wrong perceptions that the police are not coming because of ethnic composition.
In spite of the seriousness of the report his frankness and choice of words created a humorous atmosphere throughout his presentation.
Some of the areas he identified included:
* The issuing of passport and immigration duties, which he stated is done by civilians in most jurisdictions and used Canada's Ministry of External Affairs and United States of America's Immigration National Service. He pointed out that the relevant powers can be invested in civilians to execute this task.
* The Units responsible for narcotics issues also came under Mr. Gaskin's gun. He questioned the use of two forces that seem to contradict each other since one is called Custom Anti-narcotics unit and the other is Police Narcotics Squad.
* Still firing away at the notion that it is a wasted effort he suggested that out of the two mismanaged units a single one should be formed.
* Using sections of the report, from the report submitted by Past Chairman of Bar Council of England and Wales Lord Daniel Brennan, QC, as backup, he turned on the spot light on to the marine department, which is poorly equipped, yet filled with junior and senior ranks.
*He described as silliness having to approach the Police for fitness for vehicles and recommended that this responsibility should be presented to a certified dealership.
* The Unit in the Police Force responsible for fingerprint identification was of concern to him. Mr. Gaskin recounted that there were 20 matches in one year by a staff of 13 sorting through some 50 000 finger prints manually. This he said is due to failure to modernize and computerize the department - apparently not viewed as a priority.
* "You have trained ranks fooling around with a carburetor. It is absolutely ridiculous," he pointed out before reiterating that the ranks should be fighting crime instead of being under the hood of a car.
* The idea of trained ranks across the country walking to Court with big files and spending the entire day calling names was also scoffed at as a waste of resources, this responsibility should be given to retired policemen he added.
* He said senior ranks were involved in just paper shuffling and 9 to 5 work and felt they need to get back into serious police work.
* To added laughter he noted that even the horses don't trot and the dogs don't sniff and recommended the immediate shut down of the canine branch and questioned why with 28 men and 27 horses in the mounted branch, only two go out on the streets each day.
He was concerned that the report from England was not taken seriously and is languishing on a shelf next to a similar report presented by a Canadian firm and next to recommendations he had made before those reports were made.
If those reports were adhered to by the Government, the problems that plagued the nation after the Mash Day jailbreak and the deaths by accidents would not have occurred, he said.
During his presentation he also noted the need for a SWAT team, to respond appropriately to criminals and recommended a thorough investigation into all unnatural deaths from the time Walter Rodney was killed. He said the probe should include the deaths of former Education Minister Vincent Teekah, civilians and police.