When law becomes the lawless

Jun 04, 2011 Editorial

The victims of the recent robbery at Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara, are convinced that they were attacked by either law enforcement or military personnel. Such was their conviction that the army even sent an investigating team to Fort Island where the army has a base.
The victims spoke of the kind of boots they saw and they even found a military hat at the scene of the robbery. The army investigators, when last we checked, said that they were continuing with their investigations. The fact that they could respond to reports that their own are part of the criminal enterprise raises a worrying question, however.
The military has already handed over some of their own to the police following the abduction and killing of a young gold dealer who was heading to Bartica. This young man was taken off the passenger boat by a group of soldiers. The next thing people knew was that his body was floating in the Essequibo River.
We have also had cases of policemen being a part of the criminal enterprise. A Sophia motorist later reported that he was heading home when he was stopped by a police patrol. He said that the men demonstrated a special interest in the money he had in his trunk.
Not long after the search a lone gunman attacked him and not only robbed him, but also shot him twice. He survived the attack. He argued that the police patrol could not have been far away, must have heard the gunshot and could have responded in time to apprehend the shooter. His conclusion was that the very policemen who stopped and checked him, conducted the robbery.
We have also had cases of policemen making a drug bust and allowing the drug carrier to go free after demanding a quantity of money and seizing the drugs which do not enter into the police depository. In one case a seaman reported being relieved of three kilograms of cocaine, put out of the police vehicle and made to find his way back from whence he came.
This man reported the issue but no one was ever arrested because it was simply a case of one man’s word against another. In every country there are rogue cops and rogue officials. However, what makes the situation worrying in Guyana has to do with the fact that neither the army nor the police have a special agency to routinely investigate corruption within the ranks.
The other worrying factor has to do with the fact that these are the people who are entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the society. If the protectors are going to prey on the people they are expected to protect, then the people are in a bad way. To compound the issue, these new attackers come with sophisticated weapons purchased by the state. The very movement of the perpetrators is sponsored by the state. In short, the people are paying the criminals to attack them.
Something must have gone horribly wrong for the army and the police to recruit people with criminal propensities. And surely, before they entered the institutions they were not criminals. Perhaps some were not but became influenced by their peers; perhaps people outside the two institutions planted the seed in their head.
Whatever the case, there is the suggestion that the level of intelligence of the recruits would leave a lot to be desired. The army does publish the names and photographs of the recruits, inviting the members of the public to challenge the entry of these persons into the army. More often than not, it is a pipe dream to believe that people would actually comment on one of these potential recruits. The society has long developed a phobia for reporting.
In the case of the Meten-Meer-Zorg robbery the police have arrested someone who had an association with the disciplined services. We do not believe that crime, particularly violent crimes, by uniformed personnel, is widespread. We know, though, that it is more prevalent than it should be. If the perception becomes pervasive then one could see vigilante justice. And this is not a good thing because many innocent people could die violently.

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When law becomes the lawless

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