The event passed almost unnoticed

Nov 12, 2008 Features / Columnists

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A few days ago an event passed almost unnoticed by the people of Guyana because it had nothing to do with food or money or even recreation. People came from the various Caribbean countries to discuss an issue that is plaguing almost every Caribbean country.
They sat and deliberated and made recommendations that the various governments will have to take on board.
The event was the regional security conference under the auspices of the Caricom Secretariat.
The heads of the various armies and police forces descended on Georgetown to further map out strategies to combat what is now such a thorny issue that foreign countries that contribute to the various national economies are issuing advisories to their people who visit this part of the world.
There was a time when one prevailing view was that poverty was spawning a crime wave. The critics argued that jobs were not there and since people had to live they were turning to crime. Today, the evidence suggests that this is not the case because even in countries with economies that can easily be the envy of many, there is crime.
Trinidad with its oil economy has a crime wave so high that it is fast threatening to become the crime capital of the Caribbean.
Already the murder rate in that country is so high that it is only a matter of time before the foreign governments issue an advisory for their people to avoid that country.
Jamaica with its ubiquitous marijuana industry was once considered the crime capital of the region because scarcely would a day go by that there were not multiple murders. The situation reached the stage where policemen were being killed almost at random. The leaders in that country decided that the police were not strong enough to combat the crime wave that they involved the army to the point of placing the head of the army to head national security.
In Trinidad the government spent millions of dollars, to the point of buying sophisticated tracking equipment because kidnapping and murders had become the leading crimes.
Guyana, too, has its share of gun crimes, some of them so common that the government had to introduce harsh legislation to seek to limit the presence of unlicensed guns.
The Bahamas is also caught up in this crime wave so when the regional security leaders met in Guyana they were forced to seek a common thread between these countries since the crimes were similar in every country—robberies at gunpoint, shooting deaths and countless armed robberies.
The critics in Guyana, ever quick to blame the government, pointed to the absence of some institutions such as the Guyana National Service. They also began to point fingers at the school system from which skilled teachers had all but disappeared.
Like Jamaica, and to a lesser extent, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana involved the Guyana Defence Force, with marked success. The army now remains part of this country’s crime fighting capability.
Cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drugs have been found to be at the root of crime in this country and in almost all the other Caribbean countries.
Their porous borders make it easy for people to smuggle guns and drugs into the countries to facilitate their criminal activities.
Just last week, had it not been for the quick action of the Joint Services, a group of gunmen would have escaped with what would have been the most barefaced robbery in this country.
Therefore, when the regional security leaders met, they discussed not only penalties, but also means of controlling the flow of guns into their respective countries. They examined strategies that would lead to even more arrests and prosecution.
Some of them discussed corruption among their ranks and blamed this on the fact that the very people placed in positions to help fight crime are products of the same society from which the criminals come.
Since there is a common thread in all these countries, it boggles the mind to explain how the critics in Guyana can blame the government for the crime situation. It has not escaped notice that the successes of the Joint Services in Guyana are sources of criticism with the very people who want to see an end to crime complaining about harsh methods being used by the Joint Services.
One thing that none can deny is that the government is slowly gaining the upper hand in the fight against crime. There has been a drastic decline in murders and there has also been a greater interdiction of drugs destined for other countries.
This is going to be the continuing trend and when the regional leaders met they examined those areas in which Guyana has been successful with a view to implementing them in their own countries.
Blame the government for challenging the criminals, some of whom have links to the very critics.

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