Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn has reminded police officers to conduct themselves in a manner that is befitting of the important role they play in maintaining peace and order in society.
He was at the time delivering the feature address at the annual Inspectors’ and Sergeants’ Conference on Wednesday at the Police Officers’ Mess Annexe, Eve Leary. The conference, held under the theme ‘Enhancing Leadership and Strategic Readiness for Contemporary Policing’, highlights the Force’s commitment to strengthen leadership capabilities and operational readiness in an evolving security landscape.
Benn commended the recently promoted Inspectors and Sergeants, acknowledging their service and urging them to embrace their critical role in national security.
He stated, “Those who were recently promoted, I want to thank you for your service to your country. I want to thank you for recognising that you are the best that we have for promotion. I want to thank you for understanding why we, at this particularly momentous period in our country’s history, desire you now more than ever, to be that tip of the spear which I speak of, in fostering security, in ensuring peace in Guyana.”
Minister Benn emphasised the need for increased peace and stability as Guyana undergoes significant economic and infrastructural development. He noted that while physical development such as roads, bridges, schools, and hospitals is evident, the greatest challenge lies in cultural transformation, mindset shifts, and fostering national unity.
According to him, the hardest part is not the physical development or the new buildings going up all across Guyana. “The hardest part is having the cultural change, a change in mindset, a change in approach to how we view and look at each other as Guyanese,” he posited.
He further challenged the Guyana Police Force to pursue continuous improvement, highlighting the pivotal role of law enforcement in ensuring national security and development.
The Minister also spoke about operational challenges, stressing the importance of public engagement, accountability, and the use of body cameras to document police interactions.
“I keep telling everyone that the public has a right to video the police and record police behaviour. We must not prevent people from taking our pictures or recording the engagement…we now have body cameras, which we have to use to video the engagement, to make sure that we bring things back into the right perspective, in the right arena of how policing should be done and how the engagement should be done,” he asserted.
