What on earth is going on in the Guyana Police Force?

Dec 03, 2013 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Your editorial of Sunday, December 1, boosted by recent events, caused me to reflect on the growing evidence of police ineptitude and the injustice to which citizens are subjected. I ask myself what on earth is really going on in the Guyana Police Force.
A man is allowed to go free because the police do not perform their duties with the necessary diligence in ensuring that witnesses in a murder case appear to testify for (get this) the prosecution. Secondly, another murder accused walks because the police were not in a position to even prove that the alleged victim was indeed dead.
For the uninitiated a very important issue arises, namely supervision. Someone has to be answerable for (i) the ranks who were supposed to testify at the preliminary inquiry; (ii) the ranks who were supposed to ensure that witnesses were summoned to attend court; (iii) the ranks responsible for producing the exhibit(s) and establishing the relevant nexus in the chain of evidence.
Tossing about concepts like CompStat and Broken Windows might be intended to create the impression that the police are on top of things, when in reality they are seriously disorganized and adrift in a sea of confusion. These all look good on paper and make good sound bites, but they do not give us the reassurance we need to free us from the fear of crime.
We hear about ‘hotspots’, yet we are still to be told what successes have come about from applying appropriate and effective policing strategies to address the growing crime levels in these ‘hotspots’. Yes, we have observed a very obvious trend where the Top Cop speaks about an issue, but is almost always contradicted in subtle ways by his deputy who seems willing to appear as the de facto commissioner. Of course, this type of arrogance was preceded by the open contradiction of an official government position with respect to access to the CCTV cameras. This type of display is doing the image of force more harm than good and is not helped by rumours of non-cooperation at very senior levels.
The point must be made that the government’s experiment with the army should be considered for application to the Guyana Police Force if some measure of professionalism and accountability is to be forthcoming.
Prior to the appointment of Gary Best as Chief of Staff, the expectation was that succession would follow the natural order. However, that was not to be, and the rest (as they say) is history. My argument is that that experiment can be replicated in the Guyana Police Force, since as far as I am aware, it is only a convention that the deputy commissioner is appointed to be commissioner.
If the type of resistance coming from certain unexpected quarters is allowed to continue unabated, then the whole question of police reform is dead on arrival. Detectives routinely torture incredible confessions out of suspects to the point where there is no guarantee that matters will hold up in court, yet no sanctions are applied. If they were, there would be a drastic reduction in those claims, and more respect for police deductive and persuasive powers.
I would like to offer a suggestion to the government if they are serious about generating favourable public sentiments regarding the police force. If obstinacy fuelled by a false sense of entitlement is to be confronted to guarantee professionalism, maybe the administration should look to the second-tier leadership. The current first-tier incumbent(s) can be seconded to other areas in the public sector like the prison service, which is currently without a substantive director. This I strongly believe can have the desired effect of galvanizing the others into getting their act together, since none has a transport for any part of the force.
Name and address provided

Latest News

What on earth is going on in the Guyana Police Force?

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 10th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Eagles survive shaky start on Rain-affected opening day

TCL hand over trophies for Mashramani Street...

Nagassar was re-elected as President of GCUC

Herstelling and Eccles SC chalk up wins in latest...

Golden Jaguars CONCACAF home match against...

Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport endorses...

Features/Columnists

An Open Letter to the election observer missions

OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus

Azruddin Mohamed development-the constants

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

What on earth is going on in the Guyana Police Force?

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 10th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]