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Our Police Force continues to disappoint me as a citizen

Aug 02, 2020 Letters

Dear Editor,

It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter about our police force, which I understand is mandated to serve and protect, regardless.
Of course, it is expected that a murder or fatal accident will take precedence over a disturbance, but I have come to realise that unless a death is involved in a report the police patrol, at least the one (or ones) on the West Coast of Demerara never responds.
Let me explain. I live in a neighbourhood called Crane Housing Scheme. In the very street where I live, there is a ‘drug yard’ where from time to time, a number of young men congregate. Sometimes during the day, they play football in the street. The football is tossed to and fro as the kickers dictate and often it comes crashing into people’s property with the potential of causing destruction. I have stood up against this activity even citing COVID-19 restrictions such as the need for social distancing. Once the ball even hit me when I stood up against this. I don’t know if that was deliberate but I kept that ball in retaliation. On that day, I called the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station and a rank too advised me not to return the ball and that a patrol will visit.
Prior to that though, I had made multiple reports at that police station and the advice given is always that a patrol will come. Unless these patrols are coming in spirit form, they have never arrived or are probably still en route; you never know given the sloth with which some things occur in this country.
But I digress. Let’s fast forward to Friday night. The people from the ‘drug yard’, like nights before, held what appeared to be a party. Lots of noisy and I presumed “high” young men, from smoking weed, were present. Some felt they had the right to come sit on the outskirts of my property because of course, as they said in abusive language, “this is government reserve”. So there I was as a senior citizen, who served this country for over 50 years and lived at my current residence for 40 years, expected to accept the actions of some hooligans to disturb my peace and even toss garbage on the parameters of my property without saying a word. I said many words in retaliation and even called the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station again to inform them of the development. Of course, like many times before, they advised that a patrol was on the way.
My daughter who placed several calls herself to the station decided to call and inform a junior rank who she knows of the situation. The rank in response informed her “the only way to get a patrol to respond fast, you have to know a “big one”.
So my daughter who works in the media decided to do just that via WhatsApp, since regular calls to a “big one” went unanswered. There was no response from that “big one” but a call did come to my daughter’s phone shortly after from the Leonora Police Station enquiring about the report my daughter made to the “big one”.
By then the crowd had started to disperse since my daughter had taken photos and we kept monitoring their activities despite their constant abusive language towards us, with one even saying “y’all deh too comfortable in deh”.
Up to retiring to bed at around 1am Saturday morning, almost four hours after the ordeal started, we saw no patrol although the enquiring cop had advised a patrol would pass. Maybe they did, but I don’t know. My question though: is my family not worth it, to be served and protected by the Guyana Police Force or must someone be maimed or worse for an actual response to occur?

Yours truly,
J. Barry

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