The police force should focus on the root of crime

Jan 12, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – I recently read with great interest the editorial of Kaieteur News dated January 05, 2022 under the caption, “Massive crime reduction would be most welcomed.” This editorial has titillated me to activate my laptop, put my fingers on the keyboard and again share some views on the crime statistics released by the Guyana Police Force. In the opening paragraph the editor posited, “Last year Region 4 Commander of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) said that there was a reduction of crime from the previous year (KN September 3). It is not an ordinary reduction in serious crime, but a ‘massive’ one, which the statistics, on the face of things, seem to reinforce. Yet, there is the continuing struggle to reconcile statistics with reality, and soothing statistics with gnawing perception that the crime situation is not massively reduced in Region 4. Not reduced at all, but is going the other way, meaning that it is increasing and everywhere.”
The writer further mentioned that the last thing that the paper would want to do is to think that Region 4 Commander, Simon McBean is a party to any kind of statistical slickness. The paper thinks too well of Commander McBean, and he has not given any cause for the papers to be otherwise.
I share the same view about Commander Simon McBean. I know him well. While I was the Commandant of the Felix Austin Police College ‘B’ Division I recruited McBean. He will always remember how ackward his Interview for Selection for the GPF was with me. I designed it that way. Although he was highly qualified on paper I rigorously tested him to find out what he was made of.
With extreme difficulty he passed the interview. He became a recruit and is now an Assistant Commissioner of Police – the number four person in order of seniority in the GPF. He should have been higher. He is without any doubt Commissioner’s material. I have the greatest confidence in him. I trust his honesty.
Back to the editorial. The editor stated, “For sure, the numbers look lovely, but they don’t add up. They don’t have the strength of believability to them and worst, they do nothing to ease the feelings with which Guyanese live, not just in bustling Region 4, but throughout Guyana. There is this nagging sense that something is wrong, something is missing, and as much as we want to accept what the GPF, through Commander McBean shared with us, we are hesitant and stubbornly so.”
Let me reiterate. The present police crime analysis became popular after Laurie Lewis became Commissioner of Police during 1990. Subsequent Commissioners, Floyd McDonald, Winston Felix, Henry Greene, Leroy Brumell, Sealall Persaud, Leslie James and present Top Cop, Nigel Hoppie adopted the formula without any change and used it as their performance appraisal although over the years crime and criminal modus have evolved. The present police administration has even influenced the President, Minister of Home Affairs and other Government officials to boast that the police are efficient and effective in their effort to reduce crime based on the stats presented. Of the 11 categories of serious crimes, 4 are classified as various form of robberies when there should only be 1. Robbery is robbery. There is no place for Domestic Violence and other sexual offences under the Domestic Violence Act apart from Rape. Drug trafficking is not listed as well as trafficking in person, corruption and conspiracy to defraud which SOCU likes to target and other serious crimes. Should the list of serious crimes be reviewed in keeping with the current reality? The focus is on serious crimes while less serious crimes go almost unnoticed. Hence, perpetrators of those crimes, particularly those committed by youths are not effectively targeted. As a result, the perpetrators of those minor crimes quickly graduate to become serious crime offenders.
It is apposite to note that there is what is known as the “dark figures in crime.” That is crimes not reported for diverse reasons. In addition, there is the possibility of “Ghosting,” falsifying patrol logs to “make the numbers come out right.” Words I used to hear keep ringing in my ears, “cock the stats so that we can look good. Don’t record that crime, it will make our stats look bad.” I do not know if ‘Ghosting ‘ is presently taking place in the GPF. It should not be overlooked.
Presenting stats to paint a picture that the police are on top of crime is meaningless when citizens feel otherwise and has a perpetual fear of crime. Rather than looking at crime rates, cases clear up rates and response time, evaluation should focus on whether or not the police are effective in fulfilling their responsibility to the citizens they swore to serve and protect. The police are considered effective when they produce the perception that crime is under control. They must conduct regular environment scanning. That is to say, they must do both internal and external scanning. They must go to their customers – the public and find out how well they are doing. The police have persons with First Degrees and Masters who can do effective community surveys to get a clear picture of their overall performance, rather than depending solely on crime statistics to measure their performance.
The police are concentrating on the fruits of crime when they should focus, in a major way, on the root of crime and hone their human and other resources to deal with the situation. Pick the fruits and others will quickly emerge. Cut the main root and the tree will die. I will elaborate more on this concept in another letter to the editor.

Yours respectfully,
Clinton Conway
Assistant Commissioner of Police
(Retired)

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