Unprofessional behavior of the Springlands Police Station

Jan 01, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
For the past week, officers at the Springlands Police Station have been receiving a plethora of criticisms for their tardy response to complaints and lackadaisical attitude towards criminal reports. I am also compelled to add more criticisms based on facts and personal experience with them. Earlier this month, two elderly relatives of mine were beaten and robbed by three unmasked bandits. Read Kaieteur News archives for further details on December 10, 2016 captioned “Bandits beat elderly couple, cart off cash and jewellery”.
After the robbery, the police were informed about it via telephone. The rank that was at the other end of the phone asked one of my relatives if it is possible for them to send a vehicle to pick up an officer. This is the most ludicrous response I have ever heard from the police. Is there a shortage of vehicles at the Springlands Police Station? Certainly not! It should be noted that one of the perpetrators who carried out the robbery was identified and was in custody. We are still awaiting an update on the status of that matter.
Very often, I see police vehicles patrolling the road in the Skeldon area umpteen times per day aimlessly. How is it that they don’t have a vehicle to respond to criminal reports?
More interestingly, many nights I have seen traffic ranks, from Springlands Police Station at around 21:00 hrs stopping motorists as a routine process and harassing them unnecessarily. I say with much certitude, should someone in authority investigate these officers and interrogate motorists they will receive a colossal number of complaints against them. It is well known to these officers that random stops are no longer in force. How long will this continue?
This routine process seems to be perpetual and never ending. As one columnist of this newspaper rightly said in one of his daily columns and I quote,” It is an alleged secret that the juniors raise money from these schemes and senior officers get a percentage”. The continuity of the routine process could very well support that.
Now here is the part where readers will be completely mystified.
A few days back, I called up the Springlands Police Station informing them about an incident whereby someone was in front the home of my relatives at Line Path, Corentyne, using a series of threatening language. I identified myself to the rank and she assured me that they will immediately look into it. They never showed up. What if the man went berserk and caused my family harm?
During the time of that episode I called back the number on numerous occasions and never got on to it. My call log is enough of an evidence to support that. Mr. Editor, I called the police with much expectations soliciting their help but my expectations became unrealistic. Can we ever rely on the police for help? When will these police officers rebuild the nation’s trust? I wish the authorities can look into the circumstances surrounding the behaviour of ranks stationed at the Springlands Police Station and have them to better serve and protect the people in that location.
Ashan Bacchus

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