Major Police Reform recommended in Paul Slowe COI Report

State Minister Joseph Harmon said the President intends to discuss the report with his Cabinet before making it public and moving to act on the recommendations. 

Major Police Reform recommended in Paul Slowe COI Report

As President David Granger continues to examine the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the alleged assassination plot against him, the Police Force is being placed on notice that the recommendations, among other things, points to a need for serious reform within the Guyana Police Force.

State Minister Joseph Harmon said the President intends to discuss the report with his Cabinet before making it public and moving to act on the recommendations.

He noted, however, that the Paul Slowe investigation Report points to areas which require reform in the Guyana Police Force.

“This will be the subject of some comment by the British Adviser on Security Sector Reform in Guyana but it [the report] certainly points to the need for some amount of reform and I will just wish to alert to that fact and not go deeply into the other recommendations,” Harmon added.

He said during the President’s visit to Lethem recently, he announced a broad sweeping plan, which dealt with the protection of the country’s borders. He said some of the issues which arose in the COI Report are issues which the President addressed during that visit.

“That has to do with the way the police force is organised nationally to deal with the crime situation and the security of our borders. I believe at that forum the President alerted to the fact that we need to look at how the police Force is structured and how the divisional lines are drawn.”

Harmon said there may be a need for the police divisional boundaries to coincide with the established regional boundaries.

The Commission of Inquiry was set up following revelations by a businessman that he was offered $7 million back in 2015 to assassinate the President.

The revelations triggered a police investigation, but that investigation itself came under probe after allegations surfaced about the interference in the investigations by senior Police Officers.

During the Commission of Inquiry public hearings, the investigation of the allegations by the Police Force came under scrutiny, with the two leading officers of the Force offering different views on their thoughts of the investigations.

President David Granger has not offered much comment on the alleged plot, but considered it serious enough to have an independent Commission of Inquiry to not just probe the alleged plot, but to also examine the investigations done by the Police.

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