“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt”

Aug 20, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

I watched the Guyana Police Force “Press Conference”, which was held on Wednesday August 17, 2022. My reaction was ‘WOW, are these people for real!’

It was very clear that the Press Conference was held to discredit detective Sergeant Dion Bascom and to “debunk” the allegations that there is a cover-up by the police into the murder investigation of Ricardo Fagundes aka “Paper Shorts” and the payment of a large bribe to a named senior officer who headed that investigation.

Having listened to the presentation by the Crime Chief, Assistant Commissioner Wendell Blanhum, and the responses by him and the Acting Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken to the few questions, which were allowed, I cannot help thinking that they did more harm than good in their effort to discredit Bascom.

Someone once said “I think if there were some mystery or unsolved problem, and somebody gave some “unsatisfactory” explanation, then we could claim “this [just] creates more questions than answers”, implying that the explanation is not sufficient or not complete. We might be better off without this explanation”.

During his social media disclosures, Bascom made several damning allegations and provided evidence to support some of them. The Crime Chief and the Acting Commissioner failed to address several of the allegations; instead the Crime Chief was very selective of the ones he flippantly addressed. His demeanour and tone prompted a journalist to ask him why he appeared to be so dismissive of the allegations.

I find it astonishing that the Crime Chief in response to the question relating to Bascom’s claim that he was instructed by the Head of the Major Crime Unit, Superintendent Mitchell Caesar, to make a report at the Brickdam Police Station about threats made to him (Bascom) by one of the main suspects in the above mentioned murder, would nonchalantly state that he was aware of the report made but that was not a matter for the Criminal Investigations Department, of which he is the head, to deal with. Unbelievable! Here you have a case where a rank under his command, who was involved in the investigation of an execution style murder, alleges that he was threatened by one of the main suspects in the said murder case, makes a police report about that threat, and the Crime Chief shows absolutely no interest in the matter. No wonder the morale of ranks of the CID and the Guyana Police Force is at its lowest.

The Acting Commissioner was asked if he thinks that Bascom is still fit to serve in the Guyana Police Force. He responded by saying that he does not prejudge issues and that there is a process in the Guyana Police Force and that process must be followed before any rank can be dismissed for the Force.

What a revelation! Was that process followed before the unlawful dismissal on July 13, 2022 of Sergeant Dameion McLennon, Lance Corporal Thurston Simon and Lance Corporal Kirstoff DeNobrega? Maybe the process he refers to has only been implemented since those unlawful dismissals. The statement by the Acting Commissioner seems characteristically duplicitous.

It is my opinion that the Press Conference raised more questions than answers and actually supports the call for an independent investigation into the murder of “Paper Shorts” and a Commission of Inquiry into the allegations made by Sergeant Dion Bascom about the cover-up of that murder. Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, it is “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt”.

Regards
Paul Slowe CCH, DSM, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ret’d)

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“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt”

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