National Service may be the salvation

Aug 17, 2014 Features / Columnists, My Column

---

For three straight months the police keep reporting a drop in serious crimes, but they are quick to point out that murders and gun crimes have gone up. Indeed there are more murders and gun crimes, to the extent that guns are also included in some of the murders.
A long time ago I pointed out that this was bound to happen because young people, particularly young boys, were leaving school empty-headed and were bound to become the new criminals. These are the young men who see the movies and emulate the characters. In addition, there is a preponderance of guns in the country, so that anyone who wants one can actually get one.
I see how violent the society with its fewer than one million people has become and I am ashamed, especially when I talk to people in other societies that have far more crime than my Guyana. Indeed, these people admit to that, but they then become mathematical; they talk about the crimes to the population. They also point to another fact; that the police in the other societies are prone to solving the crimes.
For our small society we have far too many illiterate young people and we have parents who perhaps never tried to raise their children. I know that those who parented their children have fewer problems with them.
I was heartened by the man who chased after the criminals who had robbed his establishment and the fact that the police were quick to respond and apprehend the men during their escape. However, had the man not chased after them they would have made a clean getaway.
I was also heartened by the police who not only solved three murders this past week, but who also seem to be quick to respond to reports. This speaks volumes of the leadership of the Guyana Police Force. It also gives teeth to the police programme of working with young people in their communities. For sure, the level of crime is down in those communities.
But there must be more. I am not a supporter of children being forced to private lessons during the holidays. I would prefer to see the children go to camps where they could develop people skills. Many young people cannot relate to others. They fight if there is a disagreement, they form gangs from which they draw support in the event of a crisis or a problem and they simply cannot carry on a conversation during an interview.
I know that this seems to paint a hopeless picture, but the suggestion is that somewhere there must be some of the people in the society who could fund youth programmes. When I was a youth, there existed at Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara, a youth camp that was constantly in use. There are camps at Madewini and at Goshen. There is a Seventh-day Adventist camp along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway. These are hardly ever used and I wonder why.
It could be that money is not at premium, so parents do not think of sending their children. Perhaps the people who once organized these programmes have grown too old and there is no successor. Schools are not known to get involved in such programmes these days and I will not even hazard a guess why this is not happening.
I do know that Guyana sadly misses the National Service programme which was once a salvation to many. For starters there was Paul Slowe, who reached the ranks of Assistant Commissioner, and who is today a leading security officer for West Indies cricket.
There are many who developed skills through this programme and became useful citizens. Such was the programme that those who entered it did not have the idle time that young people seem to have these days.
There is the view that the present government scrapped it because it was Forbes Burnham’s brainchild and because its supporters objected to it. However, those supporters are among the victims of the crime situation that is now common in Guyana. Young men want money and no longer do they eye the rich, the people who have money. They rob anyone who seems to have a modicum of anything of value.
In some instances there are parents who support the criminal habits of their children because they too want money and it matters not how it comes. It is only when the young criminal is caught and the parent must fork over thousands of dollars to pay a lawyer that they feel the pinch.
I have seen parents walking the streets begging people for financial support to pay legal fees. If it is only then that a parent finds time to be a parent then Guyana is in a sad state. Small wonder that the legal profession has no shortage of lawyers. People will always be there to seek them out.
Some young people join the police force and take their orientation with them. Just recently a recruit got arrested for stealing from a colleague in the barrack room.
Routine stop and searches may take some of the guns off the streets. Just this past week I read about a teenager who will have to spend 48 months in jail for possession of a gun and ammunition. People will protest, but rather a protest than a robbery or a murder. Some young men attacked a 24-year-old who happened to be wearing a gold chain and shot him. So scared were they that they had shot the man that they did not even complete the robbery. This testifies to the age of the criminal these days.

---

---