Within the next six months, members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) will begin recording police reports digitally, eliminating the time-consuming paper-based process that has been in effect for decades.
Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken made the announcement during the latest episode of Police Round Up, describing it as part of the force’s broader push to modernise operations across all divisions.
“We’ll be taking reports by a computer, and that’s the direction we need to go,” he said, stating that, “We are in the process of digitising the entire force.”
To support that transition, the GPF has decentralised its Zara Computer Centres, ensuring that ranks in all divisions now have access to computer literacy training.
Commissioner Hicken said this forms one of the key pillars of the force’s 2027-2031 strategic plan, which includes a dedicated focus on technology, innovation and adaptability.
The shift is already being reflected in how the GPF Academy structures its training programmes.
Head of the academy, Senior Superintendent Sonia Herbert, said computer studies have been formally incorporated into the curriculum.
“I realised that there are a lot of ranks across the board that are not computer literate, and I thought it necessary for persons to be computer literate,” she said explaining, “It’s a good thing that we took that initiative because recently the Commissioner of Police has indicated that we will soon be moving to a paperless police force and will be taking reports on computers.”
Superintendent Herbert added that computer training will now be embedded at every level, from recruitment through to officer ranks.
Chief Classroom Instructor and Head of the Criminal Investigation School, Inspector Kareem Hussain, said the Zara Computer Centres are central to preparing ranks for the paperless system.
He also pointed to body camera training as a complementary initiative, describing it as a new implementation introduced at the end of initial recruit training to ensure transparency in officers’ interactions with members of the public.
Inspector Hussain extended an open invitation to civilians interested in joining the force, encouraging persons seventeen years and older to visit their nearest Zara Computer Centre to sign up.
This undertaking is part of a broader digitisation agenda being implemented by the government under its 2025 Manifesto. (Department of Public Information)
