Urgent need for law enforcement assessment

Dear Editor,Dear Editor,There is an urgent need for a law enforcement assessment in the Police F Division (Lethem and Interior Locations) by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Administration. Residents of Region One (Barima-Waini) have made the following allegations about the professional conduct of law enforcement officers attached to the GPF: 1) The Port Kaituma, Matthews Ridge, Mabaruma and Moruca Police Stations do not respond to community residents for law enforcement in their communities. In the Bamboo Landing community located in the Barama River, gold miners are threatening the lives of their employees when they do not want to pay them for their services. Quite recently, a female cook’s life was threatened when she asked a gold miner for her five months of payments. Reports were made to the Port Kaituma, Matthews Ridge and Moruca Police Stations, but to date the Police have not responded. The F Division Commander was also contacted on the matter, but still no action was taken to date.2) A building was built seven years ago to be used as a Police Station in the Santa Cruz Amerindian community (not far from the Barama River mouth). The Police Station could have served communities along the Waini and Barama Rivers. The building which the GPF knows about is currently a white elephant.3) Eustace Marcellino, an Amerindian pensioner, was reported missing since March 31, 2017 and to date has not being found. Barimanobo community residents and close relatives have alleged that Marcellino may have been murdered and buried in the backyard where he was living. The Crime Chief needs to urgently dispatch the Police Major Crimes Unit to the Mabaruma sub-region to conduct investigations and arrest Marcellino’s killers.4) Basil Da Silva and his family on August 25, 2016 were travelling in their boat not far from Morawhanna in the Mabaruma sub-region when a speeding boat collided with theirs which resulted in the capsizing of Da Silva’s boat, causing the death of his two little children and injuries to himself and wife. The speeding boat with two persons sped away without offering any assistance to Da Silva and his family. The two persons who caused the boat accident and death of two children are free as a result of improper Police investigation at Mabaruma.
Yours sincerely,Peter Persaud