“Motherly” money, “motherly” sex in the police force

Aug 21, 2014 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I was about to deliver my speech at the Parade Ground on light-skinned preference in the advertisement industry in Guyana, when I was handed a cell phone to speak to another person on the line. The occasion was climax of the annual march of the 1823 Coalition for the Monument at Parade Ground last Sunday.
After the march from the lower East Coast, there are the festivities and speeches at Parade Ground. The President of the 1823 Coalition, Penda Guyan, asked me to speak to the person on the phone. The lady was hysterical. She described how the police picked up her son, Kunta Fraser for loitering and placed him in the cell at Sparendaam station and they chased her away when she went to make her inquiry.
The Sparendaam police station’s name does not travel well these days. It was at that venue that a young man’s two hands were burnt while in custody. Two ranks have been charged. One is an Inspector. Since the matter is before the court, I will refrain from comments, but readers know how I feel.
The burnt victim was arrested for loitering and this lady on the phone was crying about the same offence. That was sufficient reason for us to go to the station. I took Tacuma Ogunseye, Troy Kellman, Vice-President of the 1823 Coalition and Dennis Atwell of the AFC with me. As we were driving out of the Parade Ground, Chris Ram was driving in. He agreed to accompany us.
You would think that after the burning incident, the personnel at the Sparendaam station would be more accommodating. But it was police attitude as usual. The young man’s mother only gained entrance to the station because we were there. She told me they chased her out. One of the arresting officers told me he couldn’t speak to me because he had toothache. But the mother said he was abusive to her in a nasty manner, so the toothache was no deterrent.
We failed to secure bail, with the Lance Corporal who was presiding at the time, informing us that only higher authorities could sanction bail. But Chris Ram showed me the law book that contradicts that. Under the law, an Officer in Charge of a station has the authority to grant bail outside of serious offences. In this case, there was some confusion. One rank told me Fraser was found with an ice-pick.
Another rank said it was a screw driver. The mother pointed to another rank who told her that they found no object on him. She said so in front of the group of policemen who arrested Fraser. A screw driver is a tool that one ought to have at all times because as you read further you will see how a screw driver became important to us as the afternoon wore on.
Ram went his way, and the rest of us proceeded to the funeral of WPA stalwart Ronald Todd, one of the finest African young men to come out of the struggle of the WPA in the seventies and eighties. The mother insisted that we come with her to Plaisance where her son was arrested so we could verify what actually happened. Residents told us the patrol was making their rounds in Plaisance when they stopped Fraser, put him in the tray of the pick-up and took his knapsack with them.
All the people we spoke to said Fraser was walking on the street when the police randomly pulled up and arrested him. This is a horrible abuse of citizens’ rights. The police could have put any object in that bag and said they found it on Fraser.
Plaisance residents related some nightmarish stories about the Sparendaam patrols. They said the operations have two features. Money is demanded of the mothers of the incarcerated young men to have them released. Secondly, in some instances if the mother is attractive, sex is solicited from her to get her son out of the cell.
While we were going to the station, we saw a heart-breaking incident. These things make you livid. A young lady was begging the same policemen like a slave to release her motorcycle. They picked up her relative with the bike and accused him of stealing it. She brought all her documents verifying her ownership, but they would not listen to her.
Finally driving to the funeral, my left back window fell and could not be wound up. Tacuma Ogunseye, Dennis Atwell and Troy Kellman all claimed that to fix it was a piece of cake, but we needed a screw driver. Keep a screw driver on you at all times.

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“Motherly” money, “motherly” sex in the police force

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