It has been almost two years since Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee rolled out a raft of police reforms some of which were to be spearheaded by a civilian team, but with the rising incidences of serious crimes including armed robberies and murders, questions abound as to whether things are going according to plan.
In January, Rohee had said that despite the resignation of three members of the Strategic Management Department (SMD), the team was able to complete an analysis of the weaknesses and strengths of the force. While he pointed to five accomplishments so far, sources recently said that there is a strained relationship between the senior members of the Force and the SMD and this is the likely reason for the sloth in the implementation of the reforms outlined in the plan.
Efforts to contact Rohee as well as head of SMD Patrick Mentore were futile.
Mentore and his team are expected to work alongside members of the force in addressing the key strategic priorities laid out in the plan.
According to Rohee, the accomplishments up to January this year include the conduct of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis aimed at getting clearer insights into the internal and external factors that can impact on the modernization process; the development of a Change Management Strategy to catalyze the transformation process; the development of a communications strategy to ensure that knowledge and awareness of the modernization process facilitate concomitant changes in behaviour in the Force; the design of a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework that is expected to improve organizational performance; and a review of and the development of vehicle acquisition, deployment and maintenance strategies so that the Guyana Police Force could acquire the appropriate types of vehicles to suit its needs and which are maintained as per schedule.
A source told Stabroek News that the first issue with the set-up is the name that has been chosen. He said that `Strategic Management Department’ does not adequately reflect what the purpose of the grouping is and more so had created the impression that they “have some authority within the Force.” The source stressed that the name should have reflected something about police or reform.
The source said there had been no mention on the objectives of the work being undertaken by the department, but it appears as though the focus is on improving the management and operation of the force. Stabroek News understands that the plan addresses certain areas such as training, matters relating to recruits and certain aspects of crime.
The source said that since the SMD came into being there has been no change in terms of the management or operation of the force or any other area.
Resistant to change
The source said that the force is resistant to change and this may be the reason why things may not be going according to the plan. “People come and they meet the system a certain way and they want to keep it like that,” the source said while adding that the change has to come from the inside.
In this regard he said, putting the department, which ought to be independent from the force, in police headquarters, Eve Leary was a wrong move. Rohee had previously said that the high-level civilian professionals in non-line position will be hired to ensure “a high degree of professional, technical and efficient inputs to guarantee implementation of the plan.” However the source said the present location of the department discredits this.
“The organization should have been put on the outside. It is not part of the Force. It should have not have been there [Eve Leary] as an independent body,” the source said.
It was noted too that if it was a case that the ministry wanted the team to make an impact on the force than persons in very prominent positions should have been sought out and hired. The initial team was chosen by a panel of several persons which included then Crime Chief Seelall Persaud (the only policeman) after a review of 49 applications.
Those chosen were Mentore, Rosanne Purnwasie, Mona Bynoe, Kenneth Bentinck, Hermanetta Andrews, Richard Francois, Trovanna Azez, Enid Thom-Alleyne, Ian James and Shameza David.
The ministry in a press release had said that Mentore, who holds a BSc in political science was once a part of the police force and was at one time its public relations officer. Purnwasie, who was appointed the team leader has a Master of Arts in Humanities and a Masters in Theological Studies and was previously responsible for implementing the Community Action Component of the Citizens’ Security Programme which was run by the Ministry of Home Affairs and funded by the Inter-American Development Bank.
Bynoe has a BSc in Economics; Bentinck, a Masters in Business Administration; Andrews, a BSc in Nursing; Francois, a MA in marketing and communications; Azeez, a BSc in Communications Studies; Thom-Alleyne, a BSc in Business Management; James, a BSc in Economics and David, a BSc in Economics.
The source said these are people who have to interact with senior policemen and that in itself led to problems. The source said that in the Force, rank is important.
He added that in his opinion, the makeup of the team ought to have included several policemen so as to reduce resistance
It was former police commissioner Winston Felix who first mentioned that the members of the SMD were having difficulties with senior members of the force. During an interview in August last year Felix had said that the team had encountered a roadblock because of the non-cooperation of senior officers.
He had described the situation as a “state of confusion,” as it appeared as if the government “foisted” the team on the force without explaining to the upper echelons that they were mandated to cooperate with the team of civilians in an effort to improve the work of the police.
According to the source, it ought to be of concern that so much money was spent; first to formulate the plan then to fund the work of the department yet there seemed to be no improvement. At the end of October, the police reported, a total of 119 murders in comparison to 111 murders for the same period in 2013, an increase of 7%.
Robbery under arms overall for that period had increased by 8% in comparison to the same period in 2013. The statistics indicate an increase of 13% in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms; and a 1% decrease in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators.
In relation to traffic, 113 road fatalities from 104 accidents have been recorded at the end of October 2014 in comparison to 85 fatalities from 79 accidents for the same period in 2013; a 33% increase in fatalities.
“So much money is being spent and it is intended to improve the image of the force so that they can better serve the public. But nothing is happening. There have been no improvements. Everything is either the same way or has gotten worse,” the source said.
He noted that “crime and traffic’ are the pillars of the Force and if there is an increase in these areas then the Force has a problem. He said that the success of the work by the SMD should be reflected in these two departments.
“You are not seeing any changes in the stats and two years is a long time,” the source said adding that no one has said anything about a timeframe in which this plan ought to be implemented.
Left within six months
Stabroek News has been reliably informed that the three persons who resigned left within six months of taking up their respective posts. This newspaper was told that they all left for “personal reasons.” In at least one case, the interaction with the police led to discomfort, resulting in a decision to quit.
Stabroek News was told that no one resigned after the trio but it is unclear if they had been replaced. Addressing that issue, Rohee had said in January that the departures had not seriously affected the progress of implementation of the plan as the remaining members were multitasking. He said steps have however been taken to replace those three persons as a matter of priority,
According to a source as of October last year nothing much was being done as the team was still consulting with the police with respect to the areas outlined in the plan.
On December 31, 2012, under enormous public pressure over his performance and long overdue changes, Rohee announced the sweeping reforms which are supposed to see a role for UK consultants who had long recommended such a shake-up.
Rohee said then that changes to the police force would be ushered in with the implementation of a Strategic Plan. According to him the plan was drawn up by the UK-based Capita Symonds Consultancy in 2010, while the Implementation Plan was drawn up and embarked on by the US-based Julian Laite Consultancy in February, 2012. He said implementation of the strategic plan is pegged at an annual cost of $35 million.
Side by side with the implementation of the strategic plan, he added, the UK based Capita-Symonds Consultancy will be contracted to focus on the critical areas of “Administration,” “Succession planning,” “Integrity/ Probity” and “Public Relations/Communications” in the GPF.
On this point, Rohee said the implementation of these areas may see the involvement of international police officers as consultants, though he added that the contractual agreement will primarily see the hiring of highly-qualified specialists.
The first phase of the consultancy was pegged at a cost of US$129,750.00 or $25 million.
