Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 06, 2010 Editorial
Things have not been going well for the Guyana Police Force although it has been trying to be the best it could. Perhaps the worst episode in the life of the Guyana Police Force for this year occurred over the past weekend and indeed, the administrator of the force would have to worry.
A young recruit was shot dead while he was on duty at the entrance to the scheme where members of the Joint Services, both past and present, live. The young man, in keeping with his responsibility, challenged a group of men who seemed bent on law-breaking activities.
He was shot and killed because there is a proliferation of guns in the society. Just about every individual has one and these things, it seems, are not difficult to acquire.
One day later two other policemen died of gunshot wounds, one of them self-inflicted. One of the ranks had attained the office of Assistant Superintendent of Police. He had reportedly distinguished himself during his training as a cadet officer.
Something must have gone horribly wrong for him to turn a weapon on a junior rank. In the first instance there should always be minimum contact between senior and junior ranks but here it seemed that there was too much contact. The result is that the police force lost two more men at a time when its strength is way below par.
Police Commissioner Henry Greene had only hours earlier chided the public for not siding with the police when the need arises.
He must now be ruing his criticism of the public and those who protest police excesses. When the very policemen demonstrate that they lack self control the public have no option but to adopt the stance they take.
But as the Commissioner said, not all policemen are bad and that the bad ones are punished. Perhaps the time has come when the force must have mandatory review of the attitude of every rank. There must be an up-to-date record of every policeman; every report both negative and positive leveled against the rank.
The public scarcely remember the good unless someone is a direct beneficiary as is the case when criminals attack a household and the police respond and exact results in the wake of the attack.
Everyone knows that the police are not supposed to be winners in popularity contests but that does not mean that under normal circumstances the police cannot demonstrate a certain positive behaviour that would stand them out from the rest of the society.
It is expected that certain police action, no matter how well meaning, would attract some level of hostility from the section of the society that is targeted. There was a police raid in a section of the city on Sunday that left two people nursing gunshot wounds. One of them is being touted as an innocent party.
That may very well be the case although people who know him talk about him dropping out of school and ceasing to be a member of his church to follow a gang. His parents and relatives would tout him as a good lad. His neighbours know otherwise. And the police are going to be criticized for unnecessary roughness.
Such police action is common in every part of the world, even in the metropolis. The difference is that every policeman who discharges his weapon must give an account of what prompted him to do so. Guyana may do well to adopt this course.
Retired Police Commissioner Winston Felix managed to curb the trigger happy policemen who played judge, jury and executioner. One may argue that this curb has led to criminals becoming bolder and more deadly because they know that they are less likely to pay the ultimate penalty when caught.
But the police must operate within this confine; they must tread this line. Bullets shattering windows of nearby residences and narrowly missing innocent people must not happen. They must be made to understand that they should only shoot when absolutely necessary.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 28, 2024
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