GHRA lauds Brickdam lock ups

For decades the Brickdam lock-up defined all that was brutish, callous and backward about policing in Guyana, said the Guyana Human Rights Association, yesterday.
Completion of renovations to this facility is a welcome development that goes some way to removing the most persistent obstacle to the modernisation of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), for which the GPF and the Minister of Home Affairs are to be congratulated, it added.
“The GHRA would like to believe that the new facility represents a new approach to policing, rather than an isolated gesture.”
Hopefully, renovating the Brickdam lock-up will not exhaust the reformist tendencies in the GPF. The Women’s detention facility at East La Penitence is almost as unacceptable as Brickdam used to be, the GHRA stated.
“Sustaining the standards in the new Brickdam facility requires practical measures not simply aspirations.  In this respect, the creation of lay visitor Boards for each police-station should be considered.
“Such boards among other duties could routinely inspect the stations, particularly lock-ups, as an incentive to maintain good order and hygiene.
Lay visitor boards would also contribute to break-down the isolation of police facilities from the communities in which they function.”