Dear Editor,
It is my humble opinion that the crime situation, more especially in Georgetown, is spiralling out of control, and the Guyana Police Force needs to go back to the drawing board in order to restore law and order.
The daily reports of robberies and crimes of violence bring home the reality of the grave situation, and the robbery that was committed whilst a post mortem was in progress indicates the depravity and disrespect of the robbers, even to the deceased.
The bicycle gangs of young men cycling around in search of prey; the motor cycle gangs also in search of victims, and perhaps with better information as to their victims; the beating to death of Pandit Rishi Bharrat by a group of men drinking and hurling insults at the female members of the late Pandit’s family; persons being awakened and robbed in their homes; the resumption of executions that had haunted us some time ago, all of these factors and more are indicative of my assertion that the Police are lacking in their responsibility and duty to the citizens of Guyana.
I do not buy the statistics given out by the Police that there has been a decrease in crime. No, not at all; and so many crimes go unreported, as the victims feel it would be a waste of time to make a report when they see and know that nothing would come out of it.
The one spark recently in the fight against this breed of criminals is the lady who, after being robbed, followed the bandits in her car and rammed the car that they were in. One robber was caught, charged, and remanded to prison. Hats off to this heroic lady, who is deserving of a medal! However, one should be careful when reacting to being robbed, as it can result in serious injury, or death.
The question to be asked is: Why are the Police ineffective? Their duty is to serve and protect! Is that being done? I do not expect that every crime would be solved and that the Police would be on the scene whilst crimes are being committed, but they must solve the crimes. They must be able to infiltrate the gangs, or pay informers for information. They must, by their investigation, charge and secure convictions in a large number of cases. They must not only rely on confession statements, as I am, and have always been, suspicious of those.
Too many confession statements are obtained with the use of coercion and violence by members of the Force; I can tell you that from my experience. Once a criminal has been caught fairly, either by direct or indirect evidence, and not beaten for a confession, he will respect that Police officer who secured the conviction against him.
President Ali and his Government must be aware that, with the boom in Guyana’s economy, there will be many foreigners and tourists coming to Guyana. If they are robbed, that would tarnish the image of the country and make persons not wanting to come here. This would affect our economy, and more particularly the travel sector, taxis, restaurants, entertainment sector, the sectors that supply the restaurants and hotels, persons who work in all the aforementioned sectors. Not all of us can live by working in the oil and gas sector.
I note that millions have been spent by the Government to make the Police more mobile, and we need to see the statistics how that has helped in this battle.
I make this appeal to the Minister of Public Security and the Guyana Police Force to begin to be constructive and do what is necessary to let our citizens and all who may come here be safe.
My recommendations for immediate action by the Government and the Guyana Police Force is listed below:
(a) Ensure that the resources to fight crime are utilised constructively. Do an audit of what is required and what is available.
(b) Cultivate informers, so that information can be obtained. Pay these informers well, and give a bonus as per results.
(c) See how best undercover persons can be used to infiltrate areas and gangs. This may prove difficult, considering the small population of Guyana. Approved wire-tapping of phones can be done to obtain plans and information of the criminals.
(d) Start or improve a Hot Line System whereby persons can make reports anonymously, if they so wish. The reason why this may not be currently working is that persons have to believe that whatever information is being given is confidential, and cannot be traced back to them. As a result, the Police would have to utilise individuals who will give confidence to the public at large, and be assured that whatever information is given would be confidential.
(e) The image of the Guyana Police Force needs to reflect integrity, care, and competence. Persons need to believe in the integrity and ability of the Police to receive information and perform their duties. The recent and current dissension within the top echelons of the Police Force regarding promotions does not augur well for the future. This must be fixed as quickly as possible.
(f) Education and continuing education for members of the Police Force should be encouraged. I am not sure how much time off is given, or if tuition and examination fees are paid by the Administration. If not, then this should be looked into, and once a member passes appropriate examinations, he/she should be compensated in some form. Promotion, increase in salary; or if none of the two, be given extra points when the time for promotion comes up.
(g) Forensics. I know that there has been a push in this direction, and I hope that, if possible, more can be done so that science can help in the fight against crime. However, in order to get and keep professionals in this field, proper and competitive salaries and benefits must be paid.
(h) Minister Benn seems to be a hard-working and no-nonsense person. He has to be guided by the Commissioner and other senior officers. Let them lay out the plans, ensure that they have resources to do the job, and if it fails, then there should be repercussions.
(i) Crime affects us all, no matter where you live, ethnicity or job. I would like to see the Government and Opposition join in this fight, and not let it be the case that the Opposition will say at the end of the day that the Government has been hopeless. If recommendations have been given and disregarded by the Minister or Government, then they should be condemned. Do not wait in the slips and pray for failure!
(j) Finally. We have to pay the members of the Guyana Police Force a decent salary. I understand the dilemma of the Government that if the salary of one sector is raised then the other sectors would also clamour for the same raise. Which sector is more valuable? All are, if one falters, there will be repercussions in other sections of our society. Money is important, but if there are incentives and benefits to be gained in the long run, then that can be a motivation for integrity and professionalism. Provide housing, education, with assistance in travel, school materials, and other benefits for the children of the Force, duty free concessions for cars after at least ten years of service, and look for other innovations so that members of the Force can add these benefits to their salaries.
(k) I would urge President Ali and his Cabinet to consider this suggestion. It is that all employees in the Public Sector and those corporations that serve the public be given annually a credit of at least $250,000, which they can use when they purchase goods on which VAT has to be paid. This indirectly would immediately increase their purchasing power.
Sincerely,
K.A. Juman-Yassin,
S.C, A.A.
