A household suffers through police inaction

Apr 21, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
Is there a law against very loud music being played late at night and early in the morning?
On April 8, last, the loudest music was being blasted from the open top floor of a yellow-painted hotel in West Ruimveldt around Front Road and Hunter Street from 21:00 hrs until 3:30 hrs. The loudness is what one experiences in open areas like the National Park. The music was that loud it caused the inside of my ears to vibrate and I live three houses away on Hunter Street.
My children who usually go to sleep around 20:00 hrs did not drop to sleep until 22:00hrs and got up around 1:00 hrs and again at 3:00 hrs. My baby woke up about three times. This was not the first time that this has happened but the frequency has increased. Within the next two weeks it will happen again. The owner of the hotel is very selfish who is only interested in the money he can make even if it is at the expense of his neighbours.
The police visited the hotel soon after midnight, met with the owner of the hotel and left soon after with the music continuing to blast very loudly.
It seems to me that these types of businesses should not be allowed by the City government to be operated in residential neighbourhoods. In this case, however, the hotel has already been built but surely the City can require the music not be played so loudly that it disturbs the residents in the area before midnight and that it be shut off after midnight unless it is played in an enclosed area so that the music cannot be heard outside of the hotel.
While my friends did not dissuade me from writing this letter, they laugh and warned me that the police officer in charge of the Ruimveldt Police Station and his superiors do not take these violations of the law seriously. They also suggested that it is likely money has passed and in Guyana money trumps the law. That is the loud music will continue in the future. I am not completely persuaded and I hope the officer in charge of the police station will personally enquire from the residents in the area and the owner of the hotel, what time the music started and what time it ended and was it loud. If he is persuaded it was loud and played after midnight he should enquire from the police officers why they did not request the owner of the hotel to shut off the music and warn them the next time they fail to perform their duty they will be disciplined.
If they say they were not aware of the loud music then it is clear that they were not performing their duties by not patrolling their jurisdiction. I also hope the Chief of Police will ask for the report of the matter to see if the police officers were being corrupt. In addition, the Minister of Home Affairs and presidential hopeful should also enquire from the Chief of Police what occurred since Guyana has been accused by Transparency International of being one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
If the Minister investigates a sample of these complaints the government will be in a position to refute these allegations by noting that it does not tolerate corrupt practices by its employees. If not it will reinforce the view the government encourages corruption by not doing anything about it.
In my view, when police superiors demand their subordinates enforce the law regardless of how minor it may be only then will the subordinates feel they need to implement the law and also the owner of these business will not think they have the police in their pockets.
I will be keeping my “ears open “for the next event and inform your readers if corruption continues.
John Scott