We need all hands on deck if we are to see any marked improvement in police conduct

Nov 29, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,
The Kaieteur News November 23. 2021 edition, in an article captioned, “Woman cries for justice after alleged beating by police” lays bare another distressing incident in the East Coast Demerara police stations (Sparendaan and Beterverwagting).
Sarah Baker, a 24-year-old female resident of Better Hope, who visited the station inquiring about the situation of her brother in police lockups ended up being assaulted and brutalised by male and female police officers. The victim’s mother only got access, and the release of her daughter after seeking the intervention of the Police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The matter is under investigation by that agency. The article chronicles the circumstance and the various act of brutality by the police in the incident. Of importance is the alleged accusation that the police deemed the victim as being under the influence of drugs as justification for their acts of brutality.
Police misconduct in their interaction with citizens is disgusting and reprehensible. The frequency of these incidents seems to have gotten worse. Given the post-independence history of police violence on citizens, which has continued unabated, we as a nation have become “numb”. The prevalence of extrajudicial killings by the police makes physical abuse in our police stations the lesser of the two evils. Ms. Baker is a victim of this unfortunate Guyanese reality.
Not too long ago, I penned a letter on a police officer fatally shooting 16 years Sydel Bourne in the back in a robbery attempt at Stabroek Market.
I examined the circumstances of that shooting and raised some pertinent issues. The letter was not published by the major newspapers, even after I drew to the attention of one Editor that I am resending the said letter.
It was only published, in the “Village Voice”. For the purpose of this letter, I am excluding political and race considerations as reasons that explained our newspapers attitude to the problem of police violence. On the one hand, the newspapers carried these incidents as news, sometimes not with the required scrutiny and objectivity. But where they are guilty of questionable editorial practices that amounts to irresponsibility, is the refusal at times to permit analysis of this problem by some letter writers. I take the view that we need all hands on deck if we are to see any marked improvement in police conduct in this country. In this fight, the media is of paramount importance if not indispensable. And they should cover unrestricted, citizens’ scrutiny of these incidents.
Having regressed, I return to the Baker incident. I have in the past taken the position of not criticising or calling out women organisations on any matter. However, I am forced in this case to express my concern at the “silence” of these groups on this incident. Is this silence in any way influenced by the fact that there was the involvement of a female officer? If our women organisations demonstrate that female police officers involved in these acts of brutality are unacceptable it will help to reduce the corruption of female officers. My contention, it is easier to “liberate” female officers from this evil than their male counterparts.
These are the thoughts that enter my mind as I read Miss Sarah Barker’s horror story.
Regards
Tacuma Ogunseye

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