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WHO GIVES A SWAT ABOUT IT?
Dear Editor,
“Forty ranks shortlisted for SWAT training’ is reassuring news as reported by the KN of 7-1-14. Congratulations on your scoop. Let’s hope the PPP/C government does right by ensuring racial balance as they did in the original creation of the Special Service Unit (SSU) in the early 1960s. Headed by Sandhurst trained Major Abdul Sattur he was fired by the PNC but that is not important anymore… or is it?
Last October, the director of the US- based security and justice reform consultancy firm, TEG responsible for SWAT training, Mr. Dennis Hays , had said the SWAT unit will be fully operational by August this year.
The Government and police are responsible for selecting the trainees so there can be no excuses for racial imbalance this time.
Confidence in TEG’s professionalism is well placed, mindful that they are operating in a third world country unlike their previous experiences. Has that crack unit been earmarked for a top up by the Finance Minister? They should, even if the opposition’s long knives are being sharpened.
Despite SWAT only coming a little more than a decade after former President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had ordered the establishment of a similar unit to tackle crime during the unforgettable crime wave of the early to mid 2000s.
It can only be good for all Guyana. That previous British trained unit of some 300 ranks from the Tactical Services Unit, using specially recommended firearms was abandoned because then Police Commissioner Winston Felix, now a PNC MP opposed it. No surprise when the cat is guarding the milk. It made no difference whatsoever with PPP loyalist Ms Gail Teixeira heading the Home Affairs Ministry.
APNU’s shadow Minister of Home Affairs and former Police Commissioner, Mr. Winston Felix, still does not give a SWAT for it to affect Guyana’s crime situation.
KN reported that “Mr. Felix is convinced that Guyana has not reached a state where a SWAT team is necessary and …. It could become wayward”. Why he has been selected by APNU to manage crime in a future government can only be instructional with him in the lead.
Sultan Mohamed
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