IN THE WIDER INTEREST OF JUSTICE

Mar 18, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The Guyana Police Force needs to get serious. A good way to start is to take a leaf out of the book of the New York Police Department.
Two weeks ago there was a murder of a Guyanese man in Schenectady, New York. When the investigating ranks went to a house they were fired at. This led to charges being filed against persons believed to have been involved in both the killing of the man and the shooting at the police.
However, soon after, a relative of one of the men charged was arraigned on charges of misleading detectives. The police obviously are not taking lightly any attempt at perverting their investigation. Anyone found to have been hindering the investigation is going to face the full penalties of the law.
The same needs to be applied in Guyana. During the crime wave, it was evident that some of the gunmen were receiving support from persons inside and outside of the community. To date, no one has been charged and placed before the courts for aiding and abetting the gunmen.
This is despite the government claiming that it has video evidence of the gunmen in Buxton. Well if there is video footage of the gunmen in Buxton, there also has to be footage of those that aided and abetted the gunmen. These persons, even now, need to be charged and placed before the courts so that they can face the consequences of their actions.
There were also persons who placed themselves in the line of fire between the police and the escaping gunmen. These persons should also be charged because their actions can be construed as lending support to the criminals.
This country suffered a great deal because of that crime wave. A great many persons died leaving their families in a great deal of difficulties. The interests of justice dictates that whoever knew about the existence of the gunmen, whoever knew that they were wanted by the police and who support them even if it was with a glass of water, should be charged and made to account for supporting a criminal enterprise.
We have to stop playing in this country. We played for too long and caused a great deal of wailing and hollering within families. We have to begin to create a society where people will value law and order and where any attempt at supporting criminals will be repelled.
The overwhelming majority of Guyanese does not steal, assault, murder or engage in sexual misconduct. The vast majority of our citizens are law abiding. Why then should only a handful of criminals and those that harbour and support them be allowed to cause so much trouble for the majority of citizens?
People in Guyana work hard and sacrifice a great deal to enjoy the material possessions they have. Some persons work for years and save just in order to buy certain common luxuries, only to see some bandit enter their home and steal what they have laboured hard for. This cannot be right and yet there are persons who not only support these bandits but also actually make love to them knowing what criminal activities they are engaged in.
A message must be sent to the wider community that supporting a criminal has its consequences.
Just last week, it was reported that the police were able to foil a kidnapping. This is great work by the police. Yet so far, not one letter of commendation has been penned in the newspapers congratulating the Guyana Police Force and its ranks for the excellent work they did.
This column is making no pronouncement on the guilt of anyone. That is for the courts to decide. It is not accusing anyone of anything. But it is a fact that the person who was kidnapped was freed by the police and the least that can be done is for the public to show some appreciation for good police work.
Perhaps, the public is waiting to see how many will be caught in the dragnet. Perhaps they are awaiting the results of the case. In this regard, the government needs to get serious.
For too long, major criminal cases are being prosecuted by police prosecutors. These prosecutors have to come up against some of the top lawyers in the country. In the wider interests of justice, or certain serious cases such as armed robbery and kidnapping, the government needs to propose to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the employment of private prosecutors who will be better able to present the Crown’s case.
In the wider interest of justice we need to get serious about criminal investigation and prosecution because unless we do, a handful of bandits are going to continue to make life miserable for hundreds of thousands of law abiding citizens.

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