Guyana
| Author | George Kurian |
| Pages | 459-461 |
Page 459
Official country name: Cooperative Republic of Guyana
Capital: Georgetown
Geographic description: A country in northern South America bordering the North Atlantic Ocean
Population: 765,283 (est. 2005)
The Guyana Police Force was established under Police Ordinance 10 of 1891 and has been continued under Chapter 77 of the Guyana Police Ordinance since independence in 1966. The name of the force was changed to Guyana Police Service in 1967.
The Guyana Police Service (GPS) is an armed semimilitary unit administered by a commissioner who reports to the minister of home affairs. The GPS consists of the regular police with the supernumerary, rural, and special constables. Among its areas of control are traffic control, national security, passports and immigration, registration of aliens, and firearms control. It includes a mounted branch trained for riot control. Members of the force are normally unarmed. The Fire Department, which was a part of the GPS until 1957, is now a separate organization.
Guyana is divided into seven police divisions commanded by senior officers based at their divisional headquarters except for the F Division, which is at the force headquarters in Georgetown. Police ranks are:
Police Commissioner
Senior Superintendent
Superintendent
Deputy Superintendent
Chief Inspector
Police Inspector
Sergeant
Corporal
Constable
The two main administrative divisions are Line Operations and Staff Services. Line Operations is responsible for operational functions, while Staff Services is responsible for supply, personnel, data communications, transport, and other material. The Staff Services are carried out mainly at GPS headquarters and Line Operations mainly in the territorial divisions. Line Operations duties
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