Police must be used to protect, not limit civil rights – former Top Cop

…urges GPF not to “throw away honour to the dogs”

A former Commissioner of Police has come out in criticism of the actions of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Monday evening when they let loose on hapless party agents standing watch over the ballot boxes at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).

Police were accused of using excessive force when they evicted party agents who had a legitimate right to be there from the compound. According to retired Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud, in an open letter on Wednesday, this is not the rightful purpose of officers and ranks in the Guyana Police Force.
“My thinking and experiences tell me that anti-democratic action of a few in our society cannot bear fruit without support of the Police. Let us not throw our honour to the dogs. It is on the Police that the society must rely for the immediate and effective protection of people’s constitutional guarantees. Let us not fail them,” the former Top Cop urged.
He added that the situation in Guyana was grave and, “as we are aware, political efforts to bring us through have failed over and over. It is left to the Police to give life and meaning to the enjoyment of civil rights by the law-abiding members of our society.”
According to Persaud, Guyana is already at the edge of a precipice that started since the drama started at the Region Four Returning Office that led to the fraudulent declaration of the Region Four results by Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo.
“So, it is crucial that you do not act as you did at the Region Four RO’s Office and the Arthur Chung Convention Center when you evicted people who had a legal right to be there and who were advancing the protection of Construction Rights of the Guyanese People.”
Another step in the direction it was moving since on or about March 3, 2020, he added, will cause Guyana to fall over into “unimaginable consequences from our own society and the international community. Consequences that will not only manifest into hardship and suffering for us but also for our children, elder and younger relatives and our relatives of the future”.

Community relations
The Police Force depends in large part on tips from the general public to solve crime. In recent years, the Force’s leadership has worked on building trust between the community and the Police. According to Persaud, however, the Force’s recent actions have gone some way in eroding that trust.
He also noted that it was only in a tyrannical regime that the Police are let loose against ordinary, law-abiding citizens. According to Persaud, in a free regime, the Police are only used against those opposed to the general good.
“Please note that should your actions at the two places I mentioned continue, you will find yourselves separated from the community. Such separation will create social distance that will increase the extent to which the Force could be controlled and the extent to which the Police are seen as visible symbols of the Government and targeted as such,” he said.
The society, he pointed out, took note of the selective deployment of officers and ranks in the Force as well as the use of excessive force by them. “I appeal to you to take professional action and save our dear country from the few dissidents. The society you served had never been so heavily dependent on you in contemporary times. Be our heroes,” Persaud appealed.

Conference Centre
After days of procrastination and the derailment of the verification of Region Four results, an agreement was brokered with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to supervise a recount on Monday, of the votes from all the regions.
In fact, it was President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo who had agreed to Caricom’s help. The Arthur Chung Conference n Centre was chosen as the venue for the recount. The various party agents waited all day, but no recount occurred as GECOM first announced that an agreement would have to be signed, then that it was awaiting legal advice.
As the party agents stood guard over the ballot boxes, a fumigation crew from the Public Health Ministry and then Police dressed in riot gear arrived and began herding party agents out of the compound.
People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) GECOM Commissioner Robeson Benn had to be taken to the hospital after he was dragged by Police.