Rodney King was in Kitty

Sep 21, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Any political analyst and/or sociologist will tell you that a country has gone to the dogs when abominable police brutality is a daily occurrence and the police are not partially but completely out of control. Society becomes a chasm of pessimism, and fright and flight take over.
In Guyana, the police force does not come any worse than it is right now. In Guyana, Chato’s Land is the perfect description. And to think that we are very near to an election.
After the Rodney King incident and the riots that followed, one thought that given the coverage both incidents got around the world, the days of the police openly beating people in the streets in these parts of the world were over. Given the place of the US in the world, the Rodney King incident resulted in widespread analysis of the police in many countries.
Op-Ed pieces in the top newspapers around the globe and television commentators made in-depth analyses of the nature of police work.
It would be no exaggeration to say the King incident saw a complete overhauling (at least in many parts of the US) of police methods. Federal authorities in the US didn’t want to see a repeat of King.
In Third World dictatorships, the King affair is not known and if it is, police personnel couldn’t be bothered. With particular reference to Guyana, open police brutality is commonplace. This writer is unapologetic in saying that in Guyana policing is extremely primitive. Not even in Latin American autocracies are police so indisciplined, uncouth and shameless in their unprofessional conduct.
Even the lowest ranks in this country have no respect for citizens and their rights. Go into any police station, and make an inquiry and you are greeted with complete uncouthness.
I rang the Timehri Police Station three times on Saturday to enquire on the three persons arrested at Timehri on the day of Jagdeo’s Day of Appreciation. I didn’t identify myself. On every occasion, the rank answering the phone slammed it down. I read in this newspaper that its reporter met a similar fate.
Why did the rank do it? Two reasons explain it. One is that in his understanding of police culture, the public is a nuisance. Secondly, he knows that unprofessional conduct will not bring reprimand.
There was a sickening report in this newspaper last week that brought back memories of Rodney King. The news item informed readers that the police followed a taxi driver from the heart of the city to Kitty where the driver stopped at his base. Three ranks dragged him out the car and in full view of his employer and the public gave him the Rodney King treatment.
The mauling followed the traditional pattern – once members of the public intervene, the intensity of the beating increases. What was his crime? Was he accused of rape? Was he wanted for violent bank robbery? Did he attempt to murder someone? Did he commit a violent act on an underage girl? Did he steal someone’s car? Did he invade a private home?
Make a guess why he got a sound thrashing. He rode away from the police.
What has become of this story? Why should anything happen? It occurs everyday. Last week the police were called to the National Library because a man was up in a tree. He was treated as a common criminal – beaten and arrested. Obviously, the man was of unsound mind.
Nothing will come of this tragedy. Who do the police have to look up to? Read the WikiLeaks cable on what has been said about Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee and Police Commissioner Henry Greene.
Mr. Greene has warned us that he would sue for libel if we continue with our commentary on him. Mr. Greene is a trained lawyer; he ought to know that you cannot sue for libel over a fact. It is a fact that his visa was revoked. Mr. Rohee was unable to secure a visa for six months. Surely as professional people, they owe us an explanation on the visa imbroglio.
In asking the Police Commissioner to explain this, are we committing libel? I don’t think so.
The libel laws in the Commonwealth are archaic. They are being used to intimidate the media for the most part. Will the police change their ways? Why should they. There is no one to discipline them.
The tortured boy marked the lowest point in policing in this country. And look how the Government behaved at the mere six million dollars he received from the courts in compensation. They appealed it. Guyana is a permanent tragedy

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Rodney King was in Kitty

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