Local Crime Concerns

Mar 04, 2012 Features / Columnists, Ravi Dev

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Last Wednesday evening, I went to a village meeting with the local police administration. My particular section of the village had been hit by four robberies in the last two months. They all involved gunmen raiding premises whose owners would presumably have some money – two shops, a goldsmith and a fish vendor.
My village may now have its share of small-time drug abusers that pilfer anything not nailed down – but this new development was literally a shakeup. The community had a meeting at the front-street Mandir, expressed their fears/indignation, and decided to invite the police. Since I had missed that earlier catharsis, I trudged over to the back-street Masjid to hear the police’s side of the story.
Their turnout was the first surprise: the Deputy Commander (DC) and six of his staff – quite an impressive number of khakis/plainclothes. The Minister of Home Affairs had also been billed, but he sent his regrets.  The DC made a short opening statement, expressing basically his and the GPF’s concern over the crimes and their commitment to solving them. He suggested that the culture of individuals and businesses still using large amount of cash to transact business would inevitably attract bandits. He suggested switching to cheques. Poised in the middle of the gathering, I could hear murmurs of disagreement from the back.
Then it was question and comment time. The DC insisted that people speak their mind – and he got his wish. The impossibility of getting through to the police in an emergency was raised agitatedly; some insisted that even when the phone was answered there were either rude responses or promises to respond that were never kept. The DC offered an interesting riposte: he turned to the ad hoc chair (a villager) and asked him to call the Leonora Police Station.
The number was busy. The DC gave him a second number that was supposedly the operations room. Very polite and professional answer. The DC explained a new system that had been instituted by Commissioner Henry Greene and insisted that if citizens reported non-responses, the system would be tightened further. There was agreement that the numbers would have to be made widely available.
The specifics of the local robberies were raised and the DC noted the modus operandi of the robbers: they surveyed their targets. He urged that strangers in the community be reported; even as he noted that one of the individuals arrested (and confessing) to one of the crimes had been a soda truck distributor. He was in a position to identify likely targets. One question on fingerprints on a car seized from one of the robberies was answered professionally by the fingerprint expert present.
To challenges that police cars were used only for personal purposes, the DC asserted that at least for those officers present with him, that was not true.  He allowed that there may be other realities. In answer to a question, the DC and one female officer gave an update to three murders in the region. He admitted that in one instance, they still had no leads. The fate of the gold and cash seized from three policemen involved in the goldsmith’s robbery was left hanging.
The effectiveness of the community and neighbourhood police, on which the government had poured much resource, was questioned.  Especially as to whether they were providing intelligence to the police to target criminals more specifically. “Drug houses” and dealers in the community and environs were identified by villagers. The police were challenged as to why they were not ‘raided”.
The DC placed the head of the Regional Policing group on the spot when he arrived (late). The gentleman declared he knew of no drug dens or dealers in the area, much to the amusement of the gathering. Several claimed that he is invariably found at a (named) workshop. The obviously vexed question of police ranks extorting bribes was raised and the female officer candidly accepted that in every institution there would be a ‘few rotten eggs’ but if they received reports they would act on it. One policeman was named and an instance of his action was cited. From the reaction of the DC and his staff, it was obvious that this officer was a “known character”. The crowd mumbled sceptically they would wait to see if action would be taken.
I was very impressed with the openness of the DC and his team. I believe if such interactions become a standard feature of police work it will go a far way in at least stilling the swirling rumours of police alienation and avarice that is now the norm. And also build some trust. As for its effectiveness in fighting crime, the DC agreed that ‘intelligence-led policing’ is the way forward. There is obviously a lot of work to make this the new norm.
I would like to believe that if the force were ethnically representative of the country, it might be much easier for it to gather intelligence. Of the six officers present, while they were all obviously professional, only one was an Indian. His cohorts were obviously strangers to a community that was 100% Indian. I have my doubts as to how many villagers would now go to the police station at Leonora to share information, even though everyone was impressed by the DC.
Reading President Ramotar’s speech to the Police Conference of the following day, it appeared that the police had pre-empted him.

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