Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 08, 2014 AFC Column, Features / Columnists
By Dominic Gaskin
Crime is high up among the concerns generally voiced by Guyanese whenever the opportunity arises to do so. In addition to concerns about the crime rate itself, there is also widespread dissatisfaction with the Guyana Police Force and its ability to protect citizens.
The best police force in the world will find it difficult to predict where and when the next crime will be committed and then prevent it from happening, but once a crime is in progress and has been reported, effective policing can be deployed to make it as difficult as possible for the criminal(s) to succeed. In other words, the early reporting of crime is an extremely effective crime-fighting measure.
The whole world knows this and most countries have in place a system for receiving and processing emergency calls of all types so as to be able to rapidly respond to a variety of situations whenever the need arises. At almost eighty years old, the 9-9-9 telephone number in the UK is the world’s oldest emergency call service, with the USA’s 9-1-1 system getting off the ground about two decades later. Emergency call handling has become increasingly sophisticated over the years and plays an important role in saving lives almost everywhere in the world.
There must therefore be something seriously wrong with any country that is today still struggling to put together a basic emergency call service. There must be something seriously wrong with any government that, after twenty-something years in office, cannot even ensure that emergency service calls are answered – especially in the light of concerns expressed by so many of its citizens.
The AFC considers it unacceptable that Guyanese are still without the reassurance of a working 9-1-1 system. Massacres and atrocities are committed against families and communities while the emergency number rings and rings and rings and rings.
One would like to believe that the Minister of Home Affairs is aware of the problem, and indeed, some of what he has had to say on this matter indicates that he is at least aware that the system is not working. It would also appear that he has identified the responsible party, namely the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), and is anxious to let the public know this. He has also apparently hired consultants to review the service and make recommendations on how to fix it. GT&T for its part has issued a statement denying all responsibility and pointing to missing handsets and phones not properly hung-up as some of the reasons why calls are not answered.
This is all a bunch of nonsense. There needs to be a functioning emergency service – full stop! The public does not need to be treated to squabbles between the Minister and the telephone company over who is to blame for the inadequate provision of something this urgent. Not at this stage of the game. That conversation should have happened twenty years ago. The fact that telephone companies do have some obligations when it comes to emergency calls should not detract from the failure of this government to deal with our crime situation.
The following statement by the Minister is an appalling admission of his own shortcomings and the AFC wishes to advise the public that he certainly does not speak for the AFC when he says “Apparently, we don’t have the capacity at the national level in Guyana to correct this deficiency so I thought it was necessary to bring persons from outside since we don’t have the national capacity here to address this problem.” An AFC government will have the capacity to ensure that 9-1-1 not only gets answered, but becomes a reliable tool in the fight against crime.
It should not be forgotten that back in 2009 it was the same PPP-C Administration which rejected a British Government proposal for security assistance to the tune of £4.9M, because it felt that the programme’s management structure placed too much control in the hands of the British. At the time, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon described as “offensive” the suggestion that Guyana might be suffering from any “capacity constraints” when it came to implementing the programme.
The British Government, as an act of good faith and commitment to the Security Sector Reform in Guyana Plan, had actually equipped the Police with phones that, not only rang, but had flashing lights to indicate incoming calls. They also provided head sets for operators, reviewed the system and trained operators. The fact that this system is not functioning properly today has everything to do with the capacity of those in charge.
One cannot even begin to fight crime if the crime reporting system is defective, and anyone who attempts to tell us otherwise is just being plain fat-headed. So is the PPP-C Administration pretending to have things under control when in effect they are incapable of implementing any sort of crime fighting plan?
Year after year we hear of so many cases where people in Guyana have desperately dialed 9-1-1 and not had their calls answered. At the same time we hear amazing stories coming from other parts of the world where young children (even a dog once) have dialed emergency numbers and ended up saving lives. We hear of choking victims being walked through the Heimlich maneuver and persons being talked out of attempted suicide by 9-1-1 operators.
While we here are still trying to make the phone ring, there are enhanced 9-1-1 systems in place abroad in which the caller’s identity and location are automatically transmitted with emergency calls, and where these calls are automatically routed to the closest answering point. Computer Controlled Radio Interface and Computer Aided Dispatch are also used to help direct appropriate personnel to the scene of the emergency.
Public safety software is being developed by technology companies such as IBM to monitor, measure, and predict crime. Such solutions are data-driven and a police force that has not embraced electronic data collection over the years is unlikely to have sufficient existing data to take advantage of such modern technology. A proper 9-1-1 system would record and store huge amounts of data over time that can be analyzed electronically to provide valuable statistics to aid crime fighting. By now we could have had a solid set of data for analytics. Instead we have a pricey consultant’s report with start-up recommendations. Rohee is fiddling while the phones ring and people are dying as a result.
More cynical persons may question whether the reason 9-1-1 does not get answered has to do with the fact that there is a shortage of rapid response units available. What would be the point of a top-notch emergency call service when there are gaping holes in the next layer of our security system? This too should have been fixed by now.
A fundamental role of any government is to ensure the safety of its citizens, and a government which cannot fulfill this role is hardly likely to be elected to office. Except, of course, in Guyana. It is time for the electorate to assess what, if anything, the PPP-C has to offer this country other than providing a platform for a never-ending political war with their arch-enemy, the PNC. This will not take us anywhere. There are better options – safer options.
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