After years of frustration and terror for some and a US$20,000 consultancy, Guyana’s 911 police emergency service remains problematic. Citizens all over this country have experienced frustration when calling 911 after witnessing a crime or an accident and hearing the number ring out, receiving a busy tone, or connecting to a police officer who does not want to be bothered. The times when the phone is answered and the officer is sharp and renders assistance are the exception rather than the rule, and the long-suffering citizen wants to honour that officer for doing his/her job. This should not be.
Imagine then the terror of being subject to an impending home invasion, rape or other violent situation and calling 911, only to receive no answer. In some cases, would-be victims have the time to place a second call to a nearby police station. But what if the criminal act is imminent and they only have time for a single call? This is the reason that the 911 system must work every time. It cannot be a hit or miss situation if the government and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) are serious about reducing crime. In this, as in every other aspect of life, prevention is preferable.
At a press conference held on Monday last, acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine spoke on this thorny issue. He admitted that the service was problematic, despite the review done by an overseas consultant (which according to then home minister Clement Rohee cost US$20,000), and said he hoped it would receive the requisite attention. What he did not admit was that some of that attention has to come from the GPF.
The 911 problem is threefold. There are the infrastructural issues, in that it is not well situated. There are technical issues as it is not the most modern of systems. And then there are personnel issues – as stated above, if a caller gets a police officer on a bad day things can go horribly wrong. In addition, police response times, which have improved somewhat need to be much more efficient. The days of police officers saying ‘we have no vehicle to respond’ must end now.
An efficient police emergency response service may not end crimes but quick responses which catch bandits in the act or about to commit it would surely serve as a deterrent to others.
Issues with the 911 system have been present since back in the ʼ90s, under commissioners Laurie Lewis and Floyd McDonald, and maybe even before that. Since then, there have been a number of fixes, none of which have lasted. Both of the aforementioned commissioners had complained about prank calls clogging the system. There were technical issues in 2000 and between 2007 and 2010, which caused the system to be ‘down’ for periods at a time. Early in 2008, 26 police officers received training under the United Kingdom-funded Guyana Security Sector Reform Action Plan (GSSRAP). The 911 emergency system was addressed and it was revealed that its Brickdam operations were to be computerised and legislation put in place to deal with pranksters. To date, none of this has been done.
In fact, as recently as 2014, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, which said it carries out frequent tests on all of the emergency numbers, had stated that there were 4 dedicated lines for the 911 service at Brickdam Police Station and that they were all working. Just four lines for an emergency system? Amazing.
What this country needs desperately is an upgraded 911 system, which should not be operating out of any police station. We are constantly hearing that the police force is seriously under-strength so let the police officers fight crime and keep the peace as they are trained to do. Delink the 911 system and let it be manned 24/7 by professional operators who will quickly send reports to the nearest police station or outpost. This would be similar to what is being done by the local call centres: Qualfon, TelePerformance and Nand Persaud. The difference is that the agents answering these calls would have to be much quicker, but it can be done effectively with the requisite training and the necessary systems in place. There would also be several pluses from such a move – one being job creation and another being the ability to track delinquent police officers who choose not to respond to emergency calls. A lot of thought and effort are said to be going into delinking the Immigration Office from the GPF, surely the 911 system is just as or more important.
