Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Commander Eric Bassant declares war on police corruption
Guyana Police Force ‘D’ Division Commander Eric Bassant whose reach stretches from Wales on the West Bank of Demerara all the way to Parika on the West Coast of Demerara, has declared his intolerance to corruption and will not condone or support it within his jurisdiction.
Commander of ‘D’ Division Eric Bassant
The Commander articulated that in no uncertain terms, he is aware of the corruption and the reports of it. He said however that they have systems in place to deal with it, ranging from a complaints authority to sensitization programs to enlighten persons on their rights as it pertains to corruption and other matters of importance, as well as internal training classes to inform and educate the ranks. “We have outreach programmes where we meet with members of the community and we sensitize them on all levels. Corruption is one of the things that I am not going to tolerate.”
According to Bassant, “I wouldn’t doubt the levels of corruptions or reports of corruption received in the Force but we have systems in place to receive the reports. Once we have the evidence we will deal with the persons.”
The Commander went further to establish that based on the information received, they would act on it once the information has merit, since he said allegations are sometimes made that have no merit and as such they cannot be acted upon.
Bassant implored persons to desist from giving bribes since that contributes to the process. “We are encouraging people-do not give bribes, because you have to be a giver for there to be a taker. You can quietly call and report and let us set up sting operations to catch some of them,” he said.
Addressing the concerns raised by residents that they would usually have to wait a long time for police to respond when they make a complaint, Bassant, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, explained that “some of the factors sometimes depend on when the report is received. Very often it’s not when the actual incidents occur that you would receive the reports, sometimes its five, ten, fifteen minutes after.”
He further said that it also “depends on the terrain. Tuschen is deep, Parfait Harmony is deep and even though we have patrols on the road, the terrain may take some time to cover. The patrol might be in one area when they receive the reports from the station and depending on the location, the response may vary.”
According to the Commander, the plan he has available to circumvent the issue is to have more police on motorcycles patrolling. He said that systems will be in place but the Force is faced with constraints and in this case he said that they (force) could use more vehicles.
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