Stop it! TIGI calls for end to politicising of crime

In light of President David Granger’s tirade that the mounting crime situation is organised with the intention of embarrassing his Government, the Transparency Institute of Guyana Incorporated (TIGI) has called for a cessation in the politicising of crime.
“Crime should be handled by the Police and not politicians. Make the topic of crime politically neutral. No government of Guyana has been able to stop crime in the last 20 years; hence, no contemporary Guyanese politician or political party can sincerely lay claim to the solution to crime,” TIGI said in a statement on Monday.

The organisation suggested that the political leaders should cooperate to tackle this problem and agree on a moratorium in order to consolidate all available resources in the fight.
Recently, Granger said the spiralling crime situation was part of an organised effort to embarrass his Administration.
TIGI said the President’s stance on the issue was disappointing since “crime is crime regardless of who is involved and everyone involved should be handled as criminals”.
It stated further that his statement not only failed to assuage public fear, but may do greater damage by inciting partisan discord among citizens even as they continue to be affected by the violent crimes. “We hope that this is not a precursor to disproportionate or burdensome measures to create an aura of addressing crime,” TIGI said, adding that the Opposition was also guilty given the lampoon and rhetoric it continues to flog.
TIGI stated that the politicising of crime was conflict-ridden and a feed on the wrong class of emotions within the population. “No level of crime is tolerable and crime is too consequential for such blasé treatment,” it pointed out, underscoring that the use of crime for political advantage was inconsistent with the political leaders’ responsibilities to the people and at odds with collaboration.
“It is, therefore, not surprising that over time, the Government has been fixated on making comparisons of crime rates to baselines that are often meaningless and which offer no comfort, while the troubling theory that it is within the interest of the Opposition to see crime spiral out of control is kept alive,” TIGI said.
The organisation also stated that there was confusion in calculating crime statistics and it cringed at the “realisation that the story sometimes matters more than the problem”. Furthermore, a general thread through these articles, perhaps with a few exceptions, is fuelling of the political cleavage.
TIGI lamented that at a time when there should be a war on crime, it was offensive that the top echelons of the Police Force were bickering rather than spending every moment advancing citizens’ security. “This should not be tolerated. This development is dereliction of duty insofar as it reroutes attention and especially disrupts the functioning of the Force. Furthermore, it is likely to undermine public confidence in the Police leaving them force as an attractive option to obtain results. TIGI calls on the leaders to end this situation swiftly,” the Transparency Institute said.