The professionalism of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the practices that attend policing in Guyana have long been the subject of intense public discourse. The Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the July 2012 public protests in Linden and the outcomes of those protests including the response of the police provided a separate and independent opportunity to examine aspects of policing practices in Guyana.
In this issue of The Guyana Review we publish a section of the Report of the Commission of Enquiry (paragraphs 168 – 191) that speaks to policing and policing practices including the operational behavior of the police during the Linden protests and essays recommendations for an enhanced police service
Police Action
168. The evidence of SS Hicken is that “from the 17th of July threats were being issued signaling that there would have been disturbances on the 18th.
169. That information was sufficient to have alerted the police hierarchy to the fact that danger lurked ominously around the corner and that operational initiatives were necessary to prevent it. A reasonable citizen would have expected that the police would have taken control of the access and egress points of the bridge, perhaps before dawn,
