A war of words may be brewing in the Guyana Police Force between the Commissioner of Police and a Deputy Commissioner of Police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police and Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit, Fizal Karimbaksh, has disputed a statement by Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken, that he has caused the Office of Professional Responsibility to initiate an investigation into the recent actions by him when one of his SOCU ranks was stopped by two Policemen from the Anti-Crime Unit.

Deputy Commissioner Karimbaksh told News Source that he cannot be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility as a Deputy Commissioner, and the Police Commissioner could not have initiated any such probe by OPR.

He explained that he was the one, along with the Police rank who was stopped by the other two Policemen, who submitted statements and filed a complaint against the two ranks.

According to Mr. Karimbaksh, as a Deputy Commissioner of Police, he has the right to intervene in any issue involving any rank from any department of the Police Force when that rank may not be complying with administrative instructions of the Police Force.

He said the Police Force had issued clear instructions through its Administration Department that ranks performing anti-crime duties should not be involved in traffic stops and traffic operations.

He said that was the reason behind his decision to instruct the ranks to remove from the area and discontinue traffic duties when he was contacted by one of his junior ranks who had been stopped by them over a suspected traffic issue.

Karimbaksh said his complaint against the two ranks mostly centered around the fact that the recorded conversation between them was shared to social media and they had also not followed his instructions.

The Deputy Commissioner said the statement from the Police Commissioner that he had called in OPR to probe the incident was inaccurate, especially since the complaint received by OPR was from him and the rank under his Department.

He believes the move to make the recording of the interaction public was meant to embarrass him and bring his reputation into disrepute.

News Source understands that for a Deputy Commissioner of Police to be investigated for a non-criminal offence, it would have to be triggered by the Prime Minister’s Office following a request by the Police Commissioner.

In a recent Government media interview, the Police Commissioner discussed the incident and stated that the intervention is concerning because it appears to have been made without verification and outside of the chain of command.

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