The Brickdam Police Station fire

Oct 05, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News – To say it is a massive loss would be an understatement. Even if it were a much smaller, outlying police station in one of the Regions of Guyana, it would still be a tragedy, a community one. The effects of the fire, which destroyed almost all of the Brickdam Police Station has national implications.
Not only the age, but definitely the landmark seems to have been there forever, with generations of Guyanese taking it for granted. A place of much history, of many stories that either haunt and hurt citizens, or those which remind us that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is that solid wall that stands between us and the lawlessness of disorder or full-fledged anarchy. The long seasoned wooden walls are now no more, but for a collapsed heap of high rubble, still smoldering, and reminding us how much this flattened building and its line of khaki and blue clad men and women have come to mean to us. For all the bumps and warts in its structure and occupants, there are those we must always still be thankful for, the good and conscientious and honourable ones. For, it is when something like the fire that hurried into a state of ruin comes, we recall the well in which the water is no longer there.
For sure, the buildings will be restored and with the greatest promptness. There can be no doubt of that, and for which we lend our fullest support. With regard to the documents that are compiled into the totality of the vital records of the GPF, that is a bit trickier and promises to be more demanding. A building to be restored is a physical undertaking, with many hands and much determination to deliver a still better, more modern facility, which we think is where things should head. On the other hand, the reconstruction of lost records is not an undertaking that could be as easily re-engineered because it must be by the effort of hard labour, involving one citizen at a time. One spade of mixed cement, and one plank of wood and one nail, are different propositions that everyone will agree is of the highest urgency, and which we envision will be so.
Contrastingly, the reconstruction of evidence gathered painstakingly, and is now reduced to ashes, is an altogether unimaginable prospect. From where and who and when, and in what order, are the hard issues that stare us in the face, and which are not easily addressed are to come from? They must be with the greatest degree of principle, so that there is every confidence on the part of citizens that justice will prevail. Though some files and equipment were salvaged, it may not be too much of a stretch to say that the GPF will be restarting on the lower rungs of the ladder, since there is so much that was lost, such vast ground to be covered.
We the residents of the capital city, and all citizens of this country, must lend every support to the rebuilding of the physical spaces, and the quick restarting of the GPF, from today. This is not a time for politics, or the usual passions that have so long made mince meat out of us. We call on our fellow citizens to do their part: let good sense and good spirit take over the more vindictive instincts in us. The loss of the central Brickdam Police Station buildings is not a police loss alone. It is a great loss for all of Guyana. We can do this one thing at this time. That is to help boost the morale of the men and women who serve us well, who lay their lives on the line for us, and of which most of the time, we don’t even know, perhaps, not even care about.
We at this publication care, because a healthy, sturdy, and vibrant Guyana Police Force means so much for us. It is the difference between safety and insecurity or the dividing line between justice and injustice. We will admit freely that we have had our differences with some of the things that occur within the GPF, but at this time of crisis, we are as one with its leaders and ranks.

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