The animals among us

Oct 31, 2009 Editorial

Illegality seems to know no bounds in Guyana. There seems to be no regard for law and order and certainly none for decency.
A few weeks ago there was the incident that led to the arrest of some soldiers. They were operating like common criminals although they were supposed to protect the people. They targeted a man who happened to be transporting a large sum of cash and not only did they rob him; they killed him and dumped his body overboard.
Not long after there was a group of policemen who got arrested in an offshoot. The money having been taken and the man killed, the police who were supposed to apprehend the criminals exposed themselves as criminals. They stopped a car and helped themselves to the money.
They are before the courts because as with any law enforcement organisation not everyone is a criminal. There are those who are committed to uphold the integrity of their organisation.
The army, according to a senior rank and member of the hierarchy, has always had its rogues. The official said that this has been the case ever since the army came into being in 1964. There were soldiers who took guns and robbed mining camps, raided gold claims and even supported criminal elements. For its part the army did very well to capture them and weed them out.
Of course, the police for their part have had to deal with the criminal elements in their midst. The most recent incident saw the force placing before the courts, a number of them which have been caught demanding money with menace.
There were also police ranks who went to robbery scenes and actually helped themselves to whatever loot they could find. This was the case at one Berbice robbery. The culprit was caught.
Then there were those policemen who caught criminals and actually took it upon themselves to split the loot. They were able to do this because they knew that they could leave no witnesses so they killed the criminal.
Under normal conditions, there would have been an investigation and there should be into every shooting death but this is honoured more in the breach.
There were policemen who offered protection to drug dealers. In one case there was a policeman who sought to help a drug mule smuggle drugs through the international airport. He was caught.
Some under pressure, walked out of the force and aligned themselves firmly with drug dealers. They would later say that the pay was too good to ignore. The pride of being a policeman meant nothing.
But the criminality goes beyond robberies and killings. There are the incidences of torture these days. In this issue there is a story of a boy being tortured in a manner that no human being should.
According to the evidence, a police rank doused the boy’s genitals with methyl alcohol and when answers were not forthcoming, the rank scratched a match. The result is shocking to the point that any sane person would be inclined to doubt such animalistic behaviour on behalf of the police.
Recently, the army was at the centre of more torture allegations. It is a sad indictment of the force that the victims were so afraid that they refused to even offer information about their fate.
Before that, there were reports of soldiers torturing their own in their quest to find some stolen weapons. They also tortured two Buxtonians but nothing came of that report although the beaten and broken Buxtonians were paraded before the press.
There were men who were so badly beaten that they had to be helped into the court. Most of them are now dead.
This most recent incident begs immediate attention. It is frightening. A man is innocent until proven guilty and if this young man is indeed innocent then the destruction of his body would have to be seen as barbarism of the worst order and an unnecessary incapacitation.

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