Devoted Crime Scene Investigator, Corporal Desmond Johnny, is a ‘Special Person’

Oct 28, 2018 Features / Columnists, News, Special Person

By Sharmain Grainger

Senior Crime Scene Investigator, Corporal Desmond Johnny

“Don’t join the Police Force for prestige, join it only if you want to help make a difference. When you become a police [rank] you should be able to meet and talk with anybody in any area in pretty much the same way; you should be humble enough to do so.”

Although he may not stand out in a crowd, there are yet certain things about Desmond Johnny that can make him the most outstanding human being in just about any room on a given day. Easily topping the list is his ability to be humble and very approachable, traits that he has been able to capitalise on to make him one of the most crucial assets in the Guyana Police Force today.

Having been in the Force for just over two decades, Johnny has always been the rank who is willing to answer when duty calls, no matter the time, day or cause, even if it means sacrificing precious moments with his family. But he had long accepted, since that day, so many years ago, when he decided to join the Force, that this is the life he will embrace – one in which he exudes nothing but passion for what he does, in hopes of achieving only the best results.

You might have seen him around at a crime scene. He is never in uniform, but he holds the rank of Corporal, and there is never any question that he is the point man when it comes to analysing and obtaining evidence crucial to solving many cases of a criminal nature.

Essentially, Johnny has been able to work so many crime scenes that he is currently a senior Crime Scene Investigator. His devotion to his work over the years has not gone unnoticed, as he has been the recipient of many an award from the Force.

But he certainly isn’t about the fanfare, rather, Johnny remains driven by the desire to help solve crime, one case at a time, with the evidence he is able to decipher from a scene. With his meticulous eye, Johnny is often able to quickly study a crime scene and with the aid of a camera is able to capture key elements. As a fingerprint expert too, he is often the go-to rank when cases are anything but clear cut.

He has, moreover, had a hand in not only helping to strengthen police court cases, but outrightly helped to ensure that the right perpetrators are brought to justice.

“I feel like I have done something good for the country when you have cases that happened since 2009 coming up in the High Court, or when somebody gets sentenced for a crime they committed…you feel a sense of satisfaction,” Johnny shared recently.

PORKKNOCKING

But as a young boy growing up in Kopinang Village, North Pakaraima, in Region Eight, Johnny had never envisaged himself becoming a police officer, much less a crime scene investigator. Born on February 8, 1978, to parents Cecil and Candida, Johnny was the second of six children.

After completing school (the only one in his community) at Kopinang Primary, he was contented to become a porkknocker in the interior.

“The school was a primary top and teachers used to come in and teach – some for one year or two years…I completed schooling at the age of 16, and there was nowhere else for me to go but into mining. That was the normal work for young boys to get into then,” Johnny reflected. He said that mining back in the day was not as sophisticated as it is today with the various machinery, since it was merely done by digging deep into the soil with shovels and spades or whatever tools were readily available.

However, it was just about one year into what he was sure was his destiny, that one of his aunts, who was a head teacher in another village, enlightened him about the possibility of training to become a police rank.

TRAINING DAYS

With aroused curiosity, Johnny submitted himself to the idea, and before long was for the first time headed out to Georgetown. His destination was the Felix Austin Police Training College at Eve Leary, to meet with the Force’s Training Officer.

“I remember I just had a birthday, and up until then I had never seen Georgetown before,” Johnny recounted.

With a group of colleagues following a training programme.

As he reflected on the day, he turned up at the Barrack Room at Eve Leary, which would turn out to be his adopted home, Johnny spoke of how training for him started almost immediately. In fact, he remembered having to learn to do many chores that he wasn’t even au fait with prior to coming to the capital city.

“I learnt to press uniform; I didn’t know anything about pressing before that. I learnt how to keep the environment in a particular way. I had to learn a lot of things I didn’t know about, including household chores, “Johnny recalled. This, of course, was in addition to tedious drill and firearm training.

“During my period of training, I learnt everything there was to know about the Police Force, from crime to traffic…I was learning about all these things for the first time in my life,” Johnny related.

Although he was open to learning, having no family members nearby eventually took an emotional toll on him. “I did grieve for a while, and at one point I even wanted to go back home,” Johnny recounted. It was, however, his training officer who encouraged him to remain focused and urged him to solider on.

ELECTIONS UNREST

By the time Johnny had graduated from the Felix Austin Police Training College at Eve Leary, the 1997 national and regional elections were in the air. He remembers being thrust into the Force amid elections unrest.

“That was my first experience as a policeman…all the new ranks were sent to Brickdam to work, and it was very tough for us around that time,” Johnny shared, as he recalled being selected to work with the Impact Base foot patrol.

“During the elections, we were posted at various points, but mainly to man areas around the bus parks. After the elections results came out, a set of looting and disorderly behaviour started. I remember I was with some of my colleagues in a booth on Water Street, and a certain set of guys just tumbled the booth, and we couldn’t do anything but call into the base, and they just told us to come in.”

Despite his eventful entry into the Force, Johnny had already made up his mind that his one-year-plus stint of training would not be in vain.

Johnny would remain a period of two years at the ‘A’ Division Impact Base, during which time he learnt just about everything a police rank should know about the capital city.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

He eventually branched out to the Criminal Investigation Department [CID]. This move was, however, purely by chance for Johnny. It all went down one day while he was busy minding his patrolling business at Impact Base and was required to write up a statement following an arrest.

Johnny’s impressive penmanship caught the attention of the CID Officer at the Brickdam Police Station, who immediately approached him and enquired of him if he was interested in working in the CID. Johnny’s affirmative response allowed for him to complete the induction course to CID by the year 2000, and soon after, he started learning as much as possible about criminal investigation. Indeed, he was intrigued by this aspect of police work.

Spending some quality time with his family.

“I really started to learn a lot for the first time about serious crimes,” said Johnny, who was exposed to a number of crime scene training courses, which helped to boost his capabilities as an investigator. Training in this regard saw him developing both photography and fingerprint identification skills, making him a well-rounded crime scene investigator.

All the while honing his acquired skills, Johnny remained at the Brickdam Police Station’s CID until 2004, when he was transferred to the Timehri Police Station, since it was recognised that his skills could be utilised there.

“I was interested in learning, and I was just gaining knowledge about crime scene investigation…sometimes things would go well and sometimes you have to work that much harder to get the results you are looking for,” Johnny shared.

After spending nine months at Timehri, he was posted to the Ruimveldt Police Station for a six-month stint before returning to the Brickdam CID.
By 2006, Johnny was required to head a newly-formed Crime Scene Unit with ranks working with him.

MUST ADAPT

Speaking of the life of a crime scene investigator, Johnny disclosed, “most of the time it is easier to handle a fresh scene, but when that scene gets old – for instance if it is a body and it starts to decay, it can be a really hard piece of work. But over time I have learnt to adapt myself to the various crime scenes.”

But adapting wasn’t an overnight affair. In fact, Johnny recalled that after attending to his first few murder scenes, where victims were brutally chopped by their assailants, he found that he developed an aversion for eating meats which he’d thoroughly enjoyed in the past.

“This happened after I saw bodies chopped up so badly that they looked just like cuts of beef and I just couldn’t stand eating meat, especially beef,” Johnny recalled.

He says one of the hardest crime scenes that he has had to work at was one where a father hacked his young children to death at Soesdyke.

He was, however, able to eventually overcome his eating trepidation. Indeed he has and can today eat just about any cut of meat, before and after visiting the worst of crime scenes.

“I stopped eating meat for like a good year or so, but then I said no I’ve got to get over this. I have seen some horrible scenes since, but you have to learn to not let it affect you to the point that it causes you to break down,” Johnny said.

Over the years he has not only been tasked with attending to murder scenes, but he has spent many hours also, analysing scenes of fatal accidents, break and enter and fire.

“As a crime scene investigator I remember having to work from eight in the morning till about seven in the evening, visiting various types of crime scenes. But sometimes when I knock off, and as I am about to enter my door, my phone would ring and I have to head right back out to another crime scene which could sometimes take me until midnight…it might be a robbery or a murder or something else, but when duty calls I’ve got to go. There were days when it was really tough but the work had to be done, and I did what I had to do, even when I was tired sometimes,” Johnny emphasised.

At a recent crime scene in the capital city.

He recalled having to forfeit many plans with his wife, Mary, since work has always been his top priority.

But with the Force’s move to train more ranks as crime scene investigators, these days Johnny is finding more time to spend with his family, which has since been complemented by his two young sons – nine-year-old Dexford and three-year old Rickford, whose birthday is today.

In fact, Johnny is assured time to be a part of his youngest son’s birthday celebration.

“Since 2015 I was transferred to headquarters and things have been easier in terms of time for the family. But although I am getting more time at home, I still see work just as important as when I joined the Force,” Johnny disclosed.

When asked what his advice would be to young people desirous of joining the Force today, Johnny replied, “don’t join the Police Force for prestige, join it only if you want to help make a difference. When you become a police [rank] you should be able to meet and talk with anybody in any area in pretty much the same way; you should be humble enough to do so.”

For being a police rank that has served the Force, and by extension, the people of this nation with unreserved humility, today we at Kaieteur News bestow Corporal Johnny the title of our ‘Special Person’.