The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been experiencing difficulties in implementing the outlined curfew measures in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), after they are asked by ‘influential’ persons to relax the rules for some defaulters.
Deputy Regional Police Commander, Wayne Dehearte
This was the view expressed by Deputy Regional Police Commander, Wayne Dehearte, who is frustrated by these events. The regional administration would have highlighted the current situation via a statement, in which these sentiments were shared by the senior cop.
“The curfew measures being executed in Linden is compounded when influential persons in the society intervene on behalf of defaulters,” Dehearte indicated.
As part of the national curfew, non-essential workers are only to be seen in the public domain from 06:00h to 18:00h.
The Deputy Commander related that these influential persons would expect that the Police would bend the rules to favour these defaulters. According to him, they have been approached by several persons to carry out these instructions.
Dehearte said that he firmly believed in fairness and furthermore, there should not be any preferential treatment for anyone irrespective of who they are.
Pull quote: “I am not the police officer who will allow these aberrations to dictate how I do my work, as in the Police Force we have a set-out chain of command and like I would tell them that they would have to contact my bosses, as this is not my call. Frankly, when I see influential persons calling and/or seeking to use whatever powers they are perceived to possess and the defaulters showing not one ounce of remorse, then it is only fair that all others in similar situation should be let go. It is simply not fair,” the Deputy Commander said.
In one of the incidents, he recalled that someone was having an outdoor occasion in breach of the curfew laws, and he was asked to exercise preferential treatment by allowing them to continue.
However, the person was arrested and taken to the Police Station. When the defaulter arrived at the Police Station, numerous calls flowed from prominent persons, asking for the person to be released.
“Can you imagine these persons who should be intelligent, prominent individuals agreeing that this person should be released when they are aware that the law was broken. This is ridiculous and these very persons are the ones who will tell us as Policemen and women that we are not doing our jobs or that we should lock this or that person up when they are the ones who are preventing us from doing our jobs. They are the real culprits,” he said.
The Deputy Commander said that the public would only recognise the effects of their actions when a Police Officer dies from COVID-19, causing others to display reluctance in performing their duties.
“Despite all the talking and the fact that we continue to see nurses and doctors as frontline workers, the Police are on the frontline, because when they go out to disperse a crowd, arrest someone or even investigate a matter, they are putting their loved ones at risk, because we don’t know who have the virus or not and the day a policeman or woman dies and the others begin to be reluctant to perform their duties, then these very influential persons in society would recognise how they would have created a disaster that they can’t address,” he said.
Dehearte said persons who were failing to adhere to guidelines have proven that they have no consideration for healthcare workers and law enforcement. For this reason, he believes that stricter measures must be imposed to make a statement that this was a serious issue.
“I was out in the public and what many people don’t understand … we, as Policemen and women, have families too to go home to, so when they act irresponsibly they are not only endangering our lives, they are also endangering the lives of our children and families too,” he declared.
