Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond has warned members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) that officers who conceal wrongdoing by their colleagues could themselves face consequences, as she pushes for greater accountability and integrity within the Force.
Walrond made the comments during an appearance on the Starting Point podcast, where she said police ranks who become aware of illegal activity involving their colleagues have a responsibility to make a report.
She said authorities have been paying closer attention to instances where officers may have failed to report wrongdoing and suggested that failure to do so could raise questions about whether they were acting in collusion.
“If you find a colleague in wrongdoing, a report has to be made and they need to be treated with,” Walrond said.
The minister said that in some cases, reports are not made because the officers involved are friends or colleagues, something she indicated would no longer be tolerated.
Where authorities discover that an officer knew of wrongdoing but failed to report it, Walrond said, the presumption could be that the rank was acting in collusion.
She said this principle should apply to a range of infractions, including misconduct involving traffic enforcement or the failure to report illegal items discovered during police operations.
Walrond made it clear that the government is more interested in the quality and integrity of ranks than simply increasing the numerical strength of the Police Force.
“We don’t need the bad actors,” she said, adding that the Force needs officers who are genuinely committed to serving the public with integrity.
Her latest warning follows several investigations this year involving allegations of misconduct by police ranks.
In September, the Office of Professional Responsibility launched an investigation into allegations that police and immigration ranks operating along the Lethem Trail were receiving payments to facilitate the movement of foreign nationals.
Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken said at the time that no rank would be protected if evidence established wrongdoing.
In August, a police sergeant was placed under close arrest as investigators examined the operations of the Licensing and Certifying Office at the Springlands Police Station. Investigators from the Special Organised Crime Unit secured records from the office as part of an inquiry into whether criminal or disciplinary offences had occurred.
The Office of Professional Responsibility had also opened several separate investigations in May into allegations involving police ranks, including misconduct and assault.
Walrond has repeatedly identified corruption and misconduct as threats to public confidence in law enforcement.
Addressing the Police Force’s Annual Inspectors’ Conference in February, she declared a zero-tolerance approach to bribery, collusion, abuse of authority and neglect of duty, describing corruption within law enforcement as a national security concern.
During the Starting Point interview, Walrond said her broader objective is to institutionalise integrity within the Force so that professional conduct does not depend on who occupies the positions of Home Affairs Minister or Police Commissioner.
