Crime fighting efforts to no avail if police is poorly equipped, under-resourced and below established strength

Dec 08, 2020 Letters

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Dear Editor,

As we approach the end of another year, a crescendo of voices can be heard expressing concerns over the crime situation in Guyana. This is not unusual at this time of the year. Historical crime data would show that at this time of the year criminal elements are super busy.

In or out of the Christmas season, law enforcement has a hell of a time keeping the lid on serious crimes. And domestic violence tend to increase because of heavy rum drinking at this time of the year.
The recent stabbing to death of 25-year-old Joanna John of Barama Line, North-West District by her friend while imbibing at a shop Baramita Village is a case in point. While the Guyana Police Force is to be commended for going the extra mile to keep the peace and to maintain good order, not to be overlooked are those who have been enlisted to enforce the law but who instead break the law by becoming accessories to crimes while others become walking magistrates.

Compounding the problem is the prevalence of corruption, abuse of power and dereliction of duty by the lackadaisical and selfish behaviour of some ranks embedded in the Force. It is not for lack of trying by PPP/C’s Home Affairs Ministers, that corrupt practices, which bring the Guyana Police Force into disrepute, have not been rooted out from within the organization.

The Office of Professional Responsibility needs a complete overhaul and should be replaced by an Internal Affairs, comprised and structured similar to that at the NYPD. A Commission to Combat Police Corruption (CCPC) and a National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) could prove efficacious.

To those who are prone to ask the question; ‘But why didn’t you do it while you were there?’ My response would be those were among the many recommendations ‘tweeked’ out by the previous administration. We should revisit those and other recommendations adopted at the National Conference on Inter-personal Violence held in November 2013 at the International Conference Center.

Serious crimes committed in Guyana are bound to attract widespread attention because of the size of our population. The impact of a gruesome murder or a robbery under arms resulting in a family being brutally beaten and terribly traumatized would send shockwaves throughout the country.

In the event of such occurrences, the questions usually raised are; ‘What is the police doing about it?’ And ‘What is the government doing about it?’
Guyana is not unique when it comes to challenges with respect to crime detection and prevention, as well as crime solving and unresolved cold cases.

Caricom Heads of Government held several special conferences to address the crime situation in the region. A number of anti-crime recommendations were adopted by Caricom Heads for implementation at the national level.

Following those conferences, the PPP/C Government tabled, had passed and signed into law twenty-six of the toughest anti-crime bills ever laid our National Assembly. The most controversial one being the Intercept of Communications Act.

Armed with these additional and modern crime-fighting tools, law enforcement was then, as it is now, well equipped to carry the fight to the criminal enterprise.

In the final analysis, it is the government that sets the security agenda. It is they who provide the resources, legal and otherwise to law enforcement, and, it is they who must initiate and ensure the passage of anti-crime legislation in the National Assembly.

Passing security-related laws is one thing, providing the resources is another. It is to be recalled that resources allocated to the security sector grew from 7.3 percent in 2001 to 9.6 percent in 2008. The practice by successive PPP/C administrations in allocating huge sums to the security sector continued up to 2015.

Experience in countries around the world shows that the police alone cannot effectively solve all soft or hard core criminal activities.

What puzzles many people, and understandably so, is, despite the State’s multi-million dollars investment in the security sector yet criminal activities persist. Does this mean government has failed? The answer is no.
Criminals have no protocols, no code of conduct nor standing orders. Law enforcement do, and this is precisely where the challenge is. Were the police to act outside the law, disregard established operational protocols and their own standing orders, public opinion will come down on them like a ton of bricks. The answer is to be ahead of the criminals. Only technologically driven intelligence combined with timely human intelligence can help law enforcement in this on-going battle.

However, these efforts would be to no avail if the police are poorly equipped, under-resourced and below the organization’s established strength. Moreover, if the recruitment process is questionable and training at the various levels is haphazard, we can expect poor delivery of service. Worse yet, if there is no crime fighting plan, a lack of confidence and trust in law enforcement, we can expect a disgruntled and uncooperative populace.

Nowadays, most of the crimes committed in Guyana are what can be described as opportunity crimes and crimes of passion. The recent spike of crimes in Guyana can be categorized as opportunity crimes. Evidently, information was passed to the criminals by someone who was close to the potential victim, known to have in his or her possession large sums of cash and jewellery.

People tend to talk. In some cases, it is the victim themselves who would have engaged in loose talk or behaviour that led those with criminal minds to carry out the robbery sometimes ending in a homicide.

The Marcus Bisram robbery at Number 70 Village on the Corentyne is a recent example of an opportunity crime. In the case of murders of passion, such offences usually spring from months of abuse, battering and threats. Domestic or inter-personal violence is now an everyday occurrence in Guyana.

Two recent cases come to mind. The son who killed his mother called ‘Aunty Judith’ during a robbery at Goed Intent WBD and the husband who stabbed his wife several times at Letterkenny Village, Corentyne.
There was also the recent case at Riverview, Ruimveldt, where a forty-year old boat captain killed himself because he was denied a relationship with a fourteen year-old girl.

But all is not lost. There was a time when visitors to Guyana on arrival from overseas and at the place where they would be staying would be confronted by criminals waiting to deprive them of cash, jewellery and phones. Reports of such occurrences have ceased. Also, there was a time when an unsuspecting person, who, having withdrawn thousands, or sometimes, millions of dollars from a city bank, on arrival at their destination, would be confronted by criminal elements who would deprive them of the cash they just withdrew from the bank. Again, reports of such occurrences have ceased. And while carjacking and piracy seem to be on the decline, unreported crimes including larceny from the person as well as break and enter and larceny continue to be prevalent especially in Region Four.

On balance therefore, we are not so badly off. But there is always for improvement. Unlike the past when the police published crime statistics on regular basis this practice has apparently ceased. In October 2018, Leslie James, the then Commissioner of Police, at his first press conference was reported saying; “The nation will have a vastly reformed police force within the next five months if things go according to plan.” From all indications, things did not go according to plan.

Yours truly,
Clement J. Rohee

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