Janice Jackson recounts her dealings with the Guyana National Police in implementing a standardized domestic-violence training program.  Her grassroots approach to identifying the scourge of domestic violence, initiating contact with the police commissioner, and beginning with a "training for trainers" session is instructive in its simplicity.  Jackson discusses her personal encounters with police officers who attended the training sessions and explains the standardization of the training that took place over years.  She emphasizes that the success of any police training program relies on the ownership of the program by the police and offers suggestions as to the financial resource commitment and training rotation for training both new and experienced officers.  She shares thoughts on a reporting system whereby participants can evaluate the training and revisit lessons learned.

Gail Teixeira shares her experiences with policing reform and domestic security issues during her tenure as minister of home affairs in Guyana, first as acting minister in 2004 and then officially in the post from 2005 to 2006.  She describes in detail the process of establishing a functioning civilian police force, including the utilization of community-based rural constables and volunteer neighborhood police as well as the more macro-level issues of donor relations and compliance with international norms as identified by the United Nations.  She provides a compelling account of the challenge of adhering to the cultural and historical expectations of the people at the same time that outside financial assistance and training is going on. The decentralization of the reforms and the policing system are of particular interest, especially in the face of drug-related gang activities.