Dear Editor,
Please allow me to express my disappointment with the recent advisory coming out of the Guyana Police Force about the police in plain clothes and unmarked vehicles not being authorized to stop vehicles.
It is my understanding that a police officer is a twenty-four hour worker, but he has specified active duty hours. Thus in this regard in and out of uniform he is a policeman and has the authority to effect an arrest.
In this regard if he is in civilian clothing and notices a crime or is on special assignment such as intelligence gathering, and has decided to stop and detain a suspect, then such an advisory ties his hands and may very well compromise his investigation. In other words waiting for a uniformed rank might cause valuable time loss.
What the Guyana Police Force should insist on is that all officers while on or off duty who want to effect an arrest or conduct a search must identify themselves as part of standard operational procedure.
Therefore I find the advisory counterproductive.
Yours faithfully,
Bevon Currie
