Curbing crime is an electoral promise

Jun 09, 2015 Editorial

May was probably the most deadly month in the annals of this country when it comes to murders. No less than twenty people were killed in Guyana, some execution style, some during robberies and others because of a domestic issue.
Surely this cannot be a good baptism for any new government given that the people who voted it into office expected it to put a dent on crime. Crime escalated during the tenure of the People’s Progressive Party and soon became a facet of national life. The worse crime situation occurred after the 2002 jailbreak which took criminal activity to a new level.
None can forget the empty streets as soon as it became dark. Night life floundered because people kept off the streets. It took a concerted effort by the police and the Guyana Defence Force to really clean up the country, but by the time that was over, there were splinter groups of criminal elements countrywide.
The police tried their best to keep crime off the streets of the city, but such was the proliferation of illegal guns that it soon became apparent that the gun was the weapon of choice. The police managed to suppress crime in the city, but the criminal elements soon decided that they could operate in other parts of the country.
Had it not been for some enterprising police ranks one would never have known that criminals from the city were operating in places like Berbice, the hinterland and even West Demerara. Just last weekend it turned out that teenagers were executing robberies and killing people in the act. All of these were born during the tenure of the past administration.
So it was that people expected not only a change in administration but also a change in the status of crime in Guyana. On the campaign trail the coalition vowed to stamp out crime. This vow is now being tested.
No fewer than a dozen persons died violently during the past week. This is a high figure barely matched by what passed during the crime wave that rocked Guyana. One man was shot and killed in a nightclub, another was shot execution style in South Sophia, yet another was killed when some knife wielding bandits attacked him outside his home.
One of those killed this past week was shot by his intended victim after a botched robbery, the police shot and killed one of them who had taken away a gun from a policeman and shooting him, and there was the husband who killed his estranged wife and her paramour while they slept.
The aim here is not to detail the recent murders but to highlight that there must be a way to end these killings. It is going to be difficult to curtail crimes of passion but it is easier to stem the flow of crime. Some time back the view was that the criminals were on their rampage because they were not being caught. And the few that were caught knew that it was only a matter of time before they returned to the streets.
This is where the new government must act decisively. Either there be condign punishment for certain criminal activity or there be the ubiquitous presence of the police in the society. Let’s not talk about the size of the budget should the size of the Guyana Police Force be increased.
A recent World Bank study showed that as much as $500 billion was being shipped illegally out of Guyana each year as part of efforts at money laundering. This was an amount that far exceeded the national budget. The new government would halt this practice. Some of this money would fund the new additions to the police force.
In all the countries where the people feel secure there is a police presence almost at the drop of a hat. Georgetown needs that. In the initial stages it may not be a bad thing to have the soldiers join in patrolling the streets. The criminals must not be allowed to feel that they can operate with impunity.
And besides, the new government owes the society if only because of its campaign promise.

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Curbing crime is an electoral promise

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