That avoidable tragedy

Nov 21, 2013 Editorial

The dust of public commentary seems to have settled on the fateful events of November 12, 2013—the civilian shooting to death of two police ranks and two civilians on Middle Street, Cummingsburg.
It appears, though, that the citizens of this country will be left none-the-wiser of the lessons the Guyana Police Force and – by extension the Ministry of Home Affairs would have learned from what is widely considered to be an avoidable tragedy the implications of which, have for all intents and purposes been fully ventilated.
Mention is made here of the MoHA because in any democracy the ultimate responsibility for ensuring public safety and security lies with the Minister of Home Affairs. This is not to be confused with the role of the police who are but the implementers of public safety and security policies.
It is in that respect it is a reasonable public expectation that the police as a public service body must be held accountable for poor performance or wrongdoing. This is not to disregard the demand for a careful balancing of legitimate supervision, and the potential for illegitimate interference and influence over the police by the subject minister.
Guyana is not unique in a scenario where political control and politicizing of the ranks have so eroded internal chains of command that the clear result is a dysfunctional, demoralized body of men and women.
There have been conflicting views on the actions of the first responder(s) but there definitely is a consensus that all of the persons reacting on behalf of law enforcement were woefully unprepared, uninformed or misinformed – at least during the critical initial stages.
The GPF seemed to have gone into a comatose state seemingly ignoring that what is needed at this albeit late stage is a formal review of the disastrous events of Tuesday, November 12, 2013. The administration owes it to its ranks and to the citizens to undertake a review of actions as soon possible after a deadly fire encounter where the police are involved.
There is no doubt that the actual information about the incident that was available to officers and staff would have been a factor when they had to make operational decisions in what was undoubtedly a dangerous, fast-moving and emotionally-charged environment.
By whatever name it is called, such an exercise could have the beneficial result of providing an insight on several issues namely: What was supposed to happen? What actually happened? What went well? What can be improved and how? There is no doubt that answers to these questions can benefit (i) commanders involved in operational planning; (ii) teams who may be required to respond to a similar crisis; (iii) ranks who have never encountered a similar situation; and (iv) ranks who are unsure of the appropriate policies, procedures, or protocols involved.
At the end of the day all who are likely to face an active shooter in the future need to know what was learned.
It becomes nauseating when the public is told that ranks did not follow the standard operating procedures; the recently bereaved Forde, Pantlitz and Cleto are cases in point. But was a post incident analysis conducted whose findings and recommendations resulted in the dissemination of modified or reinforced policies throughout the force?
If not then the GPF administration is criminally negligent regarding the occupational safety and health of its police men and women. Listening to hollow talk from supposedly knowledgeable persons, leaves one with the impression that no one really cares about this aspect except when seeking to castigate others for speaking out against police excesses.
The focus now should also be on how effective are the command and control systems in place and used in operations, bearing in view the perception that a lack of preparedness may have actually contributed to the risks in Middle Street. The quality of decision-making at incidents is a good indicator of whether individuals have been adequately prepared by the Force.
The police force public relations people have a duty to advise citizens on what is expected of them in active shooting and other deadly situations.

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