Police speeding down road is violation of public safety

Dear Editor,
I wish to bring to your attention a number of serious issues that are currently plaguing our Guyanese society.
There seems to be an increase in the number of road accidents and armed robberies on a daily basis in Guyana. Only yesterday morning (October 15, 2019), the residents of Friendship, East Bank Demerara were traumatised when they were called to render assistance to persons who were the victims of a fatal accident, which had occurred on the public road.
According to reports, the driver of the Police vehicle is a Presidential Guard. The Ministry of the Presidency has since released a statement to the media refuting claims that the driver was a part of the President’s escort.
The question that looms large is: Which section of society are members of the Presidential Guard Service assigned to serve, is it the President and members of the Cabinet or the civilians?
President David Granger has since said that a Commission of Inquiry will be launched into the horrific accident. The public is expecting the expeditious release of the findings of this Inquiry.
Public trust in this administration and the Guyana Police Force is already at an all-time low and to reclaim this confidence we wish to find out whether there are clear restrictive policies for high-speed Police escorts, and under what circumstances speeding by the Police is justifiable.
In this modern era, there must be a speed limit for members of the Police Force; in fact, they must be upholders of the traffic laws like any motorist using the country’s roadways. There will be times when Police officers have to drive beyond the prescribed speed limit but they must do so within the range of safety, not only for themselves but for members of the Public who are using those very roads.
I demand that a mechanism be designed to ensure that speeding by Police Officers on the roads is justified. Measures must also be put in place to ensure that Police officers who are in breach of a restrictive policy for speeding are held accountable. Speeding cops can cause serious injury, death and damage to property.
The Administration of the Guyana Police Force should consider outfitting all of its vehicles with ‘speed governors’ which will prevent the engines from exceeding a certain speed.
The use of GPS in Police cars to monitor and discipline officers for speeding and other traffic infractions should also be considered as a measure for implementation.
The Police, speeding down the road, is a blatant violation of public trust and public safety and I hope that the loss of those five lives would not be in vain but that we would come to realise that the earlier appropriate measures are implemented, the safer we all will be.
Finally, I wish to state quite categorically that I have confidence in the men and women of the Guyana Police Force whom I know work way beyond their call of duty and whom like all Guyanese are the recipient of failed promises by the APNU/AFC coalition, which is now a caretaker government.

Yours sincerely,
Africo Selman
Member of
Parliament
Grade Six Teacher
and
Grade Six
Supervisor,
Success Elementary
School