Policemen are human beings too

Aug 21, 2011 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Almost all of this week there was damning news about policemen providing cover for drug lords and for drug dealers. When I read the first article I concluded that somewhere along the line one of the officers had decided that this had gone far enough and that things needed to be brought under control.
The name Steve Merai kept popping up and I concluded that he was the one who decided that it was time to pull the plug. He at one time was at the centre of similar allegations and he openly stated that he did not like drug dealers. I still remember a recorded conversation between him and a man who happened to be married to the daughter of a very prominent lawyer.
That conversation did the rounds and many people came to their own conclusion. I remember speaking to Steve about this and he explained that the man wanted to entrap him and that he used selective parts of the recording to convey a false impression. That matter was put to rest and Steve went along his way to being a policeman.
He was there when the crime wave started and he was in the thick of things, often placing his life on the line. I remember one morning when he clashed with gunmen in La Penitence. Those were the days when the gunmen threatened to take control of the streets. They almost did. Policemen were afraid to wear their uniforms away from the office and some were scared to let people know that they were policemen.
Steve was not without his share of controversy. He clashed with former commissioner Winston Felix, who suspended his firearm. He got it back. He was man enough to stand up to the then Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj, who reportedly tossed a sum of money on a table before Steve and asked him to perform illegalities that would have seen many people die.
Steve Merai walked away but always lived with the fear that someone would kill him for standing up. Knowing these things, I could easily see Steve standing up at this private meeting and pointing accusing fingers at his colleagues. He knew the score and he knew where all this would end.
Following the expose, the Guyana Police Force did one of the most stupid things it could have done in its history. It sought to display anger at the subsequent news report. It even sought to blame the officers who let out the information about the hobnobbing with drug dealers, accusing them of being in the pay of Kaieteur News.
Since then, the ex-police officers association has come out with a more balanced statement. Quite correctly, it noted that the accusing fingers painted with a broad brush. It then reminded policemen that they needed to be above reproach.
The harsh reality is that every policeman knows that when he retires at age 55 he cannot sit at home and live out the rest of his days on his pension and gratuity. He knows that before long he would have to get out the begging bowl.
Every senior officer I know who went into retirement sought a job. Many had American visas so they left to pursue a new life in new jobs. And this is an old story. Retired Assistant Commissioner Cyril Bollers went to the United States to work as a security officer with Brookdale Medical facility in Brooklyn, New York; retired Deputy Commissioner Ivan Crandon went to his farm on the upper East Coast Demerara; retired Deputy Commissioner Sydney Bunbury is in the United States; retired Deputy Commissioner Henry Chester is working as a security officer in Guyana and the list goes on.
Retired Assistant Commissioner Paul Slowe who had the fortitude to resist an order that was clearly inimical to the interest of the police force never got the promotion he deserved but he is now in Antigua as a security officer with the West Indies Cricket Board.
Policemen see these things and they try to get the cushion they need to live after the police force. The people who can offer them money are those who have it and more often than not these are the drug dealers. It is therefore easy to understand why policemen gravitate to money. They are simply not paid enough.
They put their lives on the line and at the end of their days they know that they have little or nothing. The apathetic would say that from the time they entered the force they knew what they were getting into.
President Bharrat Jagdeo knows the plight of the policemen, and from time to time he has sought to offer them a token, but this can never be enough to make them financially stable.
What is a good pay? I would say at least what a magistrate gets—somewhere in the vicinity of $400,000 per month for a senior officer.
The ordinary ranks get little better than the minimum wage. This is nonsense and exposes the reason why people are not breaking their necks to become members of the Guyana Police Force.
The entire country is going to be quick to say that policemen are corrupt. Perhaps they may wish to ask themselves why it is that people with less fortitude than a policeman are keen to become Government Ministers. They may also ask themselves whether Ministers are corrupt and why they, the people, say nothing.
I do not support corruption but it is time the government pays attention to the security of the country. There are no ifs and buts. Policemen must be paid the kind of salaries that would make them want to fight crime.
President Jagdeo cannot tell me about the wages bill. That would not save my life or offer me any protection. Policemen will.

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