Appalled at the Crime Chief’s statement on Broomes fiasco

Dear Editor,
Much has been said and written about Minister Simona Broomes’s imbroglio with the security guards at the New Thriving Restaurant’s Providence location parking lot. Her behaviour as a sitting minister of this Government could be described as nothing less than arrogant and despicable, and deserving of outright condemnation from civil society.
However, the following comment by Crime Chief Paul Williams on this same matter — which was quoted in the July 12 edition of the Guyana Times — makes interesting reading: “he (Williams) would recommend that security guards working in public places like the supermarket be properly trained, especially those carrying firearms. It is within your own judgement and sense, if you see a vehicle of a certain standard or class right there and then it speaks out to somebody. Even if you want to rate the person for whatever it is, whether the person is a drug lord, Minister or businessman, as soon as you see a vehicle of a certain standard, it supposed to arouse your attention and alertness.”
Is the Crime Chief advocating that security guards working in public places should be subservient and disregard applicable rules because of “a vehicle of a certain standard or class”? I guess he was referring to the “standard and class” of Minister Broomes’s vehicle, in which case his advocacy implies that the security guards at Providence should have been subservient to the minister and her driver, and disregard the “no parking” rule because their vehicle was of a “certain class and standard”.
What does class and standard of a vehicle have to do with arousing the attention and alertness of a security guard when laws and rules ought to be consistently applied, as in this case?
Editor, this is exactly what obtains on the public and city roads in this country. The Traffic Police oft disregard the applicable laws and rules because of vehicles of “a certain class and standard”, be it for speeding, tints, accidents, or road use violations.
The Crime Chief, by his advocacy, distinguishes the applicability of rules between those vehicles of a “certain class and standard” and those not falling within that “class and standard”. So whilst the law ought to favour no one by “class and standard”, the Crime Chief’s advice now distinguishes applicability on “class and standards”. No wonder in George Orwell’s Animal Farm there is the famous quote, “All men are equal, but some are more equal than others”, which is becoming increasingly obvious in this country.

Yours faithfully,
Selwyn Narinedatt