Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 18, 2015 Editorial
In keeping with the thrust of their elections campaign, the new political administration has the immediate task of initiating measures aimed at creating lasting cultural change within the Guyana Police Force. Thus far there has been no significant indication that the current police administrators have implemented strategies which address the broader context of the organizational integrity.
This is notwithstanding the unarguable position that ensuring police integrity should take the highest priority, and which according to Greene et al., (2004), is a “product of both actual police behavior and public perception of that behavior.” It ought to go without saying that public perceptions are often the determining factor of whether a police department is thought to possess integrity. However it does not appear that the GPF views public perception as key to police effectiveness and an indicator of legitimacy, fairness, and justice.
The available evidence (or lack thereof) also does not provide any level of comfort that the work environment is not contributing tangibly to police misconduct. Put another way, there is every likelihood that the current GPF culture may be fostering and not preventing individual police misconduct and corruption, including police brutality and excessive use of force.
This could only be facilitated by an organizational culture that is seemingly unconcerned with reducing citizen complaints in the face of increasing law enforcement demands. Other enabling factors include the failure to institute structural rule-making; severe incapacity to detect, investigate and discipline rule violations; and circumscribe the “code of silence”.
The incoming Minister of Home Affairs must seek to commission a task force to inter alia examine: the establishment of a comprehensive misconduct early-warning system; development and implementation of a universally acceptable use-of force policy; the introduction of quarterly audits and reviews across the board; improving investigative practices concerning alleged police misconduct and applying appropriate disciplinary measures; oversight of an expansion of cultural training for all ranks; and appointing an independent auditor to ensure compliance with policy which promotes significant culture change to increase integrity within the GPF. It ought to be the accepted principle that establishing and maintaining integrity requires cultural changes within the organization. Proactive measures in that direction can serve to avoid the kinds of situations that might result in litigation.
Therefore it would be necessary to develop a conceptual framework which encompasses several aspects including accountability, transparency, community engagement, data-driven decision-making, and a clearly defined and widely accepted road map for achieving institutional integrity, which is reflected in all its decisions and members. Now to address the valid question of interventions.
The first order of business should be the organizing of a symposium on the important issue of police integrity, which invites the participation of the police executive, academia,representatives of civil society, the business community and non-governmental organizations to discuss ways to promote integrity in policing; to identify police practices that build trust, enhance police accountability, and reduce police misconduct, and to examine different models for enhancing police integrity including use-of-force policies, citizen complaint processes, accountability and effective management, training, nondiscriminatory policing, data collection, and recruitment and hiring practices.
Thus far we have not adequately defined ‘integrity’ as it relates to policing. Therefore it might be useful to reflect on McDonald, Gaffigan, and Greenberg, (1997: 86) who cite the guidance provided by the 1996 National Symposium on Police Integrity which states that “Integrity—as it applies to police service—is a series of concepts and beliefs that, combined, provide structure to an agency’s operation and officers’ professional and personal ethics” and includes “honesty, honour, morality, allegiance, principled behavior, and dedication to mission.” Quite a mouthful!
Not so coincidentally perhaps is the fact that the symposium often used integrity and ethics interchangeably. However, those attributes are not unattainable since codes of professional police conduct dictate the behaviour of law enforcement officers while on or off duty to keep the public trust, as well as how police forces should function regarding the responsibilities and duties of a police officer, discretion, use of force, confidentiality, integrity, and cooperation with other agencies.
With respect to the troubling issue of police reform, researchers Johnson and Cox (2005) identify organizational culture as the most significant obstacle to the reform of police organizations. They advance the argument that leadership buy-in and the prioritizing of culture change is vital if reform-driven integrity initiatives are to take root. However, sustaining the drive will be one important sign of true commitment to an environment of integrity.Effecting culture change is a long-term, multifaceted process that will take a substantial investment of time and energy and therefore intensive leadership training is one sure guarantee for its success.
While certain strategies lend themselves more readily to community involvement, any strategy that has a goal of increasing organizational integrity must have accountability. This means that projects, whether community policing, outreach to youth, or recruitment which are the most likely to involve community members in fundamental ways must have a component which is designed to provide ongoing updates or other information to the public.
Ultimately, the community is the key player in measuring the integrity of a police force, so it only logical that all efforts to improve the integrity of the Guyana Police Force should have some community input.To do any less will reinforce an impression that community involvement is just a humbug if not a convenient sham.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 19, 2024
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