THE POLICE FORCE ALSO NEEDS REFORM

May 25, 2012 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Corruption has always been the bane of the Guyana Police Force and has consistently undermined its effectiveness.
In the days when flour was all but in law a prohibited item, a running joke was if you called the police to report a crime in progress, they took hours to arrive. But if you mentioned the word contraband, they would be in front of your door before you put down the phone.
The government of the day realized that the police in certain areas were more interested in seizing contraband than in fighting other crimes.  The division of labour within the police force was disrupted, with traffic ranks, for example, being more on the lookout for persons fetching contraband than for those driving above the speed limit.
A decision eventually was taken to regularize things. The police force became less involved in combating contraband and was directed to devote more of their energies towards other forms of crime such as the infamous kick-down-the-door banditry.
One of the difficulties facing the Guyana Police Force today is that many ranks want to be involved in traffic duties because of the monies that can be extorted from motorists.
Today, there are some anti-crime units who should be more concerned with fighting crimes, other than traffic offences, stopping vehicles and requesting owners to produce their documentation. Instead of being on the lookout for those criminals who break into homes and rob and shoot families, many anti-crime units on patrol are undertaking traffic duties.
Even the ranks riding around on motorcycles are flagging down vehicles and requesting to see the licences, registrations and fitness certificates of the vehicles
Last Saturday, there was one such unit not far away from where the former Speaker of the National Assembly lives. The former Speaker wrote an article recently in which he complained about the actions of some police patrols and their proclivity for targeting young male drivers.
Well, last Saturday, a police patrol, not a traffic patrol, was not far away from where the former Speaker lives and was stopping vehicles, mostly  those being driven by young men and asking the occupants to disembark. Interestingly they were writing traffic tickets.
It seems very unusual for an anti-crime unit to have in their possession a book of traffic tickets. One would have expected that, given the division of functions that should exist within an organization like the Guyana Police Force, if an anti-crime patrol encountered someone breaking the traffic laws, the matter would be referred to the traffic department. One hardly expects to see normal anti-crime patrols issuing tickets.
The government of Guyana seems oblivious to the harassment that many motorists have to endure at the hands of the police.  The government seems insensitive to the hassles that motorists experience at the hands of police patrols eager to involve themselves in traffic duties.
And not just young males are targeted. These patrols also love to stop young females on the roads.
The police have a job to do and they should be supported in doing their job. It is a fact that many of the persons found with unlawful guns and illegal drugs in their possession are young people. It is also a fact that persons with illegal weapons are also likely to be breaking the laws with respect to the use of vehicles. Thus searches of vehicles for traffic offences can unearth other illegal activities.
And therefore where there is suspicion involved, these anti-crime ranks are within their powers to stop and search these vehicles. However, one is often left with the distinct impression that many ranks are more interested in examining whether drivers are licenced or the windows of a vehicle is tinted or if there is some malfunctioning trafficator. Seeking out these violations are in many instances the primary reasons why they stop vehicles.
The Guyana Police Force must by now know that it has an image problem, and that at the centre of this problem is the harassment meted out to motorists by ranks.
The hierarchy of the Guyana Police Force should instruct that traffic offences be mainly enforced by traffic ranks. They should discourage anti-crime ranks from establishing road blocks and for being so preoccupied with traffic-related offences.
Unless this happens, what occurred in the past will repeat itself. Anti-crime patrols will be more interested in stopping motorists than they will be in running down criminals who commit crimes against the person.
The Guyana government also has to wake up to the high levels of corruption within the Guyana Police Force. The police force is in need of reform, but unfortunately the opposition parties did not see it fit to cut any money from the budgetary allocations of the police in order to force reforms. But they found it expedient to cut the subventions from the GINA and NCN.
“Kicking butt” may help, but is not the most advisable way to bring about reform. The government therefore has to take action to reduce the abuse that is suffered by citizens at the hands of the police and the best way to do so is to do like what the government of Trinidad has done, and bring in foreign professionals to man senior positions in the Guyana Police Force.
This is the only viable short-term solution that is going to make a difference in the fight against crime and to bring some reduction in bribery and corruption within the police force.

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