Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 19, 2019 Letters
This is an open letter to the Commissioner of Police. As a law-abiding, tax-paying Guyanese living in Bourda, Georgetown, I have three questions for the Commissioner of Police.
First, is the Operations Room that houses the Emergency 911 service functioning as planned? Second, is the Emergency 911 Service properly supervised and are incoming calls from citizens properly logged and recorded and the appropriate action taken in response to emergency calls?
Finally, is the 2:00 a.m. closing time restriction on nightclubs still in force? In addition, more to the point, are some owners of nightclubs, brothels and ‘whore-houses’ playing ‘cat and mouse’ with the police?
When the Emergency 911 service was finally upgraded and running many Guyanese breathed a sigh of relief and felt that now, thank God, they have a lifeline that they can rush to and rely on in the case of an emergency. However, is the Emergency 911 Service currently working as planned?
Unfortunately, my recent experiences using the service suggest otherwise. I now provide you with the details and timeline so my complaint can be tracked and verified.
On Thursday, July 11, at 3: 30 a.m., I called 911 to report that a Brazilian Night Club, next door to the 3-storey building that previously housed the GRA, at the corner of Albert and Charlotte Streets, was blasting music so loud that it could be heard blocks away, disturbing and depriving dozens of Guyanese like myself of their sleep.
It should be noted that this new nightclub has replaced its notorious predecessor, Club Olympia, which was then housed a mere 3 door steps away, that purportedly offered the nouveau riche and the bureaucratic elite, the highly sought after premium service enticed by pulsating rhythms such as ‘Adorcica, mi amor, a minha vida (Sweeten my life, my love)’ and ‘Despacito (Take it slow)’ and lured by luscious, curvaceous, bootylicious Latinas too compelling to resist. It may be useful to note also that Club Olympia in its day, provided premium service to a former senior police officer…
This new ‘Night Club’ is a reincarnation of Club Olympia and like its predecessor provides premium service to the nouveau riche and bureaucratic elite… and gets its ‘service providers’ from the very building that formerly housed Club Olympia. Again, it should be noted that Club Olympia went through a series of transformations: From Brothel to a Place of Worship and back to a Supplier of Sex Workers. If that is not Trafficking in Persons, then I don’t know the difference between an apple and an orange.
Now back to my call.
Amazingly, the operator on duty answering, who, incidentally, never identified herself, informed me that they will have to get a statement! A statement at 3:30 a.m.! What for? I’m making a complaint at 3:30 a.m. and she is telling me she has to get a statement? Aghast, I gave up in despair. What to expect from this service? The outcome, no action was taken!
Predictably, the Brazilian Night Club continued its ways for the next 2 nights playing loud music until 4:00 a.m. in the morning. Upset by the loss of sleep and aggravated by the nightclub’s continued defiance of the law, I decided to call 911 again, hoping, just hoping that the outcome would be different. And it was!
I called 911 on Saturday, July 13 at 2:30 a.m. A different operator responded. Again, no name, no nothing. I made my complaint about the intolerable noise level, gave her the name of the nightclub and its location and told her “If I don’t see any positive response, I will write the Commissioner of Police.” She hastily reassured me that she will notify Police Patrol.
About 20 minutes later, a Police Patrol vehicle screeched to a halt in front of the nightclub. I sighed in relief. The music stopped soon after and I heard the grating of the steel doors, as they were dragged shut. As I struggled to fall back to sleep, I thought, “Is a good thing I threatened to write the Commissioner of Police.”
For the next 3 nights, the music emanating from the nightclub was at a tolerable level and promptly at 2:00 a.m., the nightclub closed its doors. Normalcy had returned. Foreigners are respecting the Rule of Law in Guyana. Thank God. It’s working! I can now sleep peacefully. I hope thousands of other Guyanese do the same.
Then came Wednesday July 16. It is 2:30 a.m. in the morning. And I’m back where I started: tossing and turning and trying to fall asleep despite the ear-piercing music blasting from this rogue nightclub. I jumped out of my bed and hastily punched in 911 on my cell phone. “I’ll show them … I’ll get the bastards …” I heard the phone ringing in the Operations Room on the other side of the line. It rang, and rang and rang … It seemed like an eternity. But, I was determined not to give up until someone answered but no one did. Fifteen (15) minutes and no one, no one picked up the phone. It was as if the Operations Room had suddenly shut down. Damn it!
The ‘cat-and-mouse’ game between the nightclub owner and the police had begun. When the cat is away, the mouse will play. And play they did, louder and louder until 4:00 a.m. in the morning. No sleep for me for the rest of the night.
The next day, sleep-deprived and angry that foreigners can come into our country, defy the laws that govern our country and disturb the peace and quiet of law-abiding Guyanese and get away with it, I decided this time to call Alberttown Police Station to make the report I had previously made to 911.
I called 225-2672 at 2:00 p.m. -note the time, broad daylight – and the female officer responding asked if the nightclub was playing the music loud at the time of my call (Does that make sense?) and advised that I call back at night. Why couldn’t the officer lodge my report there and then, inform her supervisor and have Police Patrol monitor the situation at night is beyond me.
I resigned myself to this needless bureaucratic merry-go-round. Midnight came. I’m yet again awakened by loud music. It is too much. At 2:30 a.m. I called Alberttown Police Station. A male constable answered the call, identified himself (that caught me by surprise!) and I made the same complaint I made to 911. I asked him if a Police Patrol could check on the nightclub. “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” And he hung up.
I waited and waited. Nothing happened. The nightclub continued its merry way blaring music and providing its service. I noticed two luscious, curvaceous, bootylicious Latinas, responding to a late night ‘booty call’ and I remembered when I was in Cuba the saying: “Para la cena, y para la cama, solo te llama, una vez!” (For dinner or for the bed, you’re only called once!)
Dear Commissioner, I’d rather make a ‘booty call’ than call 911 again.
Yours sincerely
Concerned Citizen
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