Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:10 AM
Apr 05, 2016 News
– “Will provide updates on cases and would not allow any missing persons’ cases to remain cold cases”- Madray
When a person disappears, family and friends are often left with nothing but unanswered questions and unhealed wounds.
They replay moments again and again, spend hours gazing out the front window, just hoping to see their loved one returning home.
It’s a torment that likely won’t cease until they find the person they so miss.
Disappearances are a reality; they happen for different reasons, but the suffering of the families is the same.
It is during this time that families rely on the police for answers—for any information regarding their loved ones.
But, as we all know, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has a poor record-keeping system.
The recent disappearance of Mark Benschop’s file relating to his March 2011 assault by former PPP Presidential Information Liaison Kwame McCoy and his associates is enough evidence of the force’s poor record system.
Information is recorded in books and then stored in filing cabinets. So if relatives of an individual, who disappeared 10 years ago, need a follow-up, it might take days for them to get answers.
Apart from the force’s book-keeping system, items taken from the scene when these persons vanished might even go missing.
To prevent these unwanted situations, the Caribbean American Domestic Awareness Organization (CADVA) is proposing a Missing Persons’ Database which they are hoping can be linked to the police force.
The database will provide updates on cases. It would not allow any missing person’s case to remain cold cases.
“We are currently seeking sponsorship within the diplomatic corps so that we can complete this database and (put it) online by November 25,” CADVA’s representative, Diane Madray.
The Database will be named after Babita Sarjou, who disappeared almost six years ago after telling her mother that she would be meeting with her estranged husband and four-year-old son at the Kitty seawall to view the annual Diwali motorcade.
Kaieteur News was told that the NGO aims to create a reliable and modern electronic missing persons’ database that will be used to track and report on missing persons’ cases. It will be linked to a centralized system.
At presently, Madray said that records keeping are done with handwritten documents. There is no system to trace the evidence or investigation history of a case.
“There is also no centralized system to monitor such cases and no sufficient data available to develop programmes and policies,” Madray said.
She added, “Guyana needs to move forward and away from an antiquated system of record keeping and evolve with a modern updated electronic system that will guarantee records keeping and will prevent tampering.”
According to the CADVA representative, the new system will allow the families of the victims to get the latest status with a click of a button through a web interface available to the public.
“Too many families still live with the uncertainty of not knowing what happened to their loved ones. There are currently no accountability and proper follow-ups done by the local law enforcement,” she said.
The woman also believed that some missing persons’ cases are compromised with bribes and corrupt police officers as in the case with Babita Sarjou.
This newspaper was told that all evidence that were available and handed to the police when the woman vanished cannot be accounted for.
“We believe that it is time for Guyana to move forward and embrace new policies and changes that will help the country move to a new era with systems that will create a stronger public safety approach.”
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