WHERE IS YOUR TINT PERMIT?

Jan 11, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Following a spate of robberies in which heavily-tinted vehicles were used by the bandits, the police have indicated that they will be taking action against vehicles with illegal tints.

Before the police act, however, they should seriously consider their own complicity in the increase in the number of vehicles on our roadways that have tinted windows and windscreens without the requisite permits.

They should ask themselves how things have reached a stage whereby you can today see vehicles with tints even on their front windscreens. Some of the tints are extremely dark. And amongst the defaulters are the vehicles of police officers.

These tints could never have been approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the agency that grants the permits for tinted windows.

It is the Ministry of Home Affairs that grants the permits, even though this permit has to be endorsed on the fitness of the vehicle. The procedure is that you apply to the Ministry of Home Affairs and upon receiving an approval, the vehicle then has to be taken to the police for them to issue an approval for another letter indicating fitness approval.

This is a very bureaucratic process. It would have been better if instead of having to go three places, motorists seeking approval should have only had to make one stop. But that is how the bureaucracy works and people have to endure the hassle of having a tint reading at the Guyana Revenue Authority, then applying to the Ministry of Home Affairs, uplifting the approval letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs, and then having to get an inspection and an endorsement from the police. It does not end there. Having gotten that endorsement, the vehicle then has to be taken for a fitness examination.

The fact that the Ministry of Home Affairs has to be involved in issuing tint permits represents an indictment against the Guyana Police Force. The public is relieved that they do not have to deal exclusively with the Guyana Police Force, because it is believed that if the police had to be involved exclusively in issuing these permits, there would have been demands on those seeking permits.

The public welcomes the involvement of the Ministry of Home Affairs, and this suggests strongly that the Ministry should increasingly be involved in the enforcement of traffic permits so as to reduce corruption, and particularly bribe-taking, with the Guyana Police Force.

The need for tint permits became necessary because the Japanese firms that manufacture vehicles are making the vehicles with factory tints. This means that the tints are embedded in the actual glass of the windows and windscreen. The Japanese, therefore, are exporting vehicles with factory tints, mainly on the back passenger windows.

The police understand the problem, because many of them have vehicles, and so they are not hassling motorists whose back passenger and back windscreens have tints. Once your front windscreen and front windows are not tinted, the police are not giving you a problem. The requirement, however, is that you still need a permit for any tint, but if every vehicle with factory-tinted windows were to be forced to have a permit, it would cause a problem for whoever is issuing these permits. They are going to be overwhelmed with applications.

The police have therefore shown an understanding of the problem and are not demanding – at least not at the moment – motorists to show tint permits for their back windows and windscreens, because they know this is how almost all of the vehicles are now being imported from Japan, and there is nothing that can be done to have these rectified, because the tints are built into the glass of the windows and rear windscreens.

The problem that has arisen is that some persons are exploiting the leniency of the police. Some of those with permits have increased their tint density, making the windows darker. Others have decided to tint not just the front windows but also the front windscreen, with or without tint permits.

This has now reached a scale that is a problem, and before the police begin their campaign there are certain approaches that are advisable.

Firstly, the police must put themselves in order. There are senior officers of the Guyana Police Force who have tints on their vehicles, not just the factory tints, but tints on their front passenger windows and front windscreens. These totally exclude anyone from seeing who is driving the vehicle, but when the drivers come out of the vehicles, many of them are recognized by their police uniforms. The police cannot therefore begin any campaign against tints, when many of their senior ranks are involved in the illegal practice.

Charity has to be begin at home, and the Commissioner of Police should issue a memorandum to his staff, informing them that if any of them have illegal tints on their personal vehicles, it should be taken off immediately.

Secondly, the Ministry of Home Affairs should allow motorists time to put themselves in order. They should give them one week to remove all non-factory tints from vehicles.  If any vehicle is found with tints to their front windscreens and front passenger windows and these are not factory tints, the fitness of the vehicle should be revoked immediately. Those with non-factory tints should have one week to regularize themselves.  There should be zero tolerance for any tints found on the front windscreens

Thirdly, the public should allow for time for all vehicles with factory tints to be able to apply for the requisite permits to be granted. Given the amount of vehicles on the roads with factory tints, this process of regularization should be for two years, with persons being urged to get themselves in order no later than the date of expiry of their fitness.

To simply have the Guyana Police Force unleash a tint campaign on the public would lead to abuse and chaos. That should be avoided.

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