Senior reporter Dale Andrews’ exclusive interview with Patrick Mentore, Head, Strategic Management DepartmentThe Head of the Strategic Management Department that is overlooking the Guyana Police Force’s strategic development plan, Patrick Mentore, believes that changing an ingrained organisational culture that has been in place for decades will not happen overnight.He is convinced that if given the time, the unit could achieve its task of transforming the force into a modern police entity.Last week he sat down with Senior Reporter Dale Andrews for an exclusive interview on how the unit plans to achieve its goals.Continued from yesterday…Senior Reporter Dale AndrewsKN: Coming out of your audit did you determine any areas which are in need immediate reform; and if so what areas have you identified?PM: I think it is a bit too early to pronounce on that; what I can say is that the SMD will be making our findings known to Force administration along with our recommendations on the relevant best practices in the areas so identified.KN: You mentioned strategic priorities, can we have some brief idea of what these entail?PM: I am not sure that any answer on that aspect can be brief. However I will try to be as brief as possible by identifying the individual priorities and a few of the deliverables under each core priority area. Under operational priorities the focus is on drugs; firearms; domestic violence; traffic; cybercrime and international money laundering; piracy; people trafficking; Office of Professional Responsibility; and transparency. Among the objectives the GPF hopes to achieve with regard to drugs is an increase in the number of drug trafficking prosecutions; and the initiation of an educational programme for vulnerable groups in society. The deliverables refer to specific the examples of youth, convicted persons and the unemployed. The Force would like to increase the number of weapons and ammunition seized and destroyed. In the results oriented framework these objectives have been assigned a percentage based on baseline data which the GPF expects to achieve during the implementation period. With respect to domestic violence one goal is to increase the public’s trust and confidence in the Force’s ability to deal with reported incidents of DV robustly and effectively. As I said just now there really is no brief way to explain the deliverables the strategic plan identifies and we are working on presenting a summarised version with which we hope the public can identify.KN: You mentioned Office of Professional Responsibility; in light of the constant criticism and complaints about professional misconduct, do you see the OPR playing a role in ensuring that ranks conform to established professional standards? Is the OPR in its present state capable of making an input in that regard in view of widely held beliefs that even that body is not as professional as it should be?PM: One deliverable in respect of the OPR is that it is to be upgraded to perform functions similar to that of an internal affairs unit with full authority and I daresay autonomy. I cannot comment on its capability or on the professionalism of its members. I am sure that those issues will be addressed at the appropriate time.KN: Just as a follow up,China Jersyes Cheap, what assurances can anyone be given that the OPR officers’ integrity can withstand scrutiny particularly when there are allegations that that office intervenes in matters outside of its jurisdiction?PM: On the question of integrity I can only point to the fact that among the deliverables is one which speaks to setting up a process for integrity testing of ranks. I am not sure that the OPR would be excluded from such tests.KN: What are your immediate plans for the short term?PM: The Strategic Management Department proposes to conduct an analysis using a series of one day workshops at different levels of the GPF. We also propose having a session with external stakeholders who can provide vital information regarding opportunities and threats in the environment affecting the Guyana Police Force. Key recommendations and next-steps will be highlighted, and where necessary, projects or other interventions will be designed to address key issues. We will also be conducting a survey which will focus on ethics in the Force. Depending on the logistics we hope to engage the community in the various divisions to get residents’ perceptions on their expectations of the police role among other matters. We hope to be able to design risk mitigation strategies for anticipated threats to implementation.KN: Have you encountered any challenges so far,Cheap NFL Jerseys, and if you have,China Jerseys, what are they and how is your team coping?PM: You know, Dale, life is one big challenge. I think that the biggest challenge thus far has