Police to get training in firearms/crowd control
Stabroek News
September 10, 2002
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) will soon receive training in firearms management and crowd control from the British Metropolitan Police.
The training will start once the requisite equipment arrives in the country.
Newly accredited British High Commissioner Stephen John Hiscock, said while these two aspects of policing, which were requested by the government were priorities, others may be addressed very shortly. He was speaking at a media briefing at his Bel Air Gardens official residence yesterday.
"One of the next stages in that small but continuing programme is to actually provide proper training for a team of police officers in proper firearms control and riot activities/defensive activities." Among the items the GPF has reportedly purchased are body armour and protective gear. When the equipment arrives the three-man Metropolitan police team stands ready to commence training.
Hiscock said the training will cover areas such as how firearms should be issued to ranks, are used, and accountability for the weapon. He denied that the UK government had been asked to deploy forces to arrest the current crime wave.
High Commissioner Hiscock who is serving his second stint in Guyana albeit in a higher position, was previously deputy head of mission in Kabul, Afghanistan.
After joining the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1965, Hiscock served at missions in the Far East and Australia during which he also served as a deputy head of mission at the local Commission. After leaving Guyana in the middle of 1993 his stint at the Foreign and Commonwealth office, saw him having to deal with territories such as Rwanda and Burundi.
He also served for a year as head of a section covering counter terrorism policy, an experience buttressed by a period as section head of a department dealing with drugs, international crime and terrorism.