The seemingly unsolvable security situation on the East Coast of Demerara needs more than arrests, detentions, interrogations, searches and joint police-military operations. After over five years of civil unrest and criminal violence, the central government and regional administration on the one hand, and the police and defence forces on the other hand, should have realised that they are still to succeed in restoring a satisfactory level of law enforcement.
There is little to be gained by persisting in a failed strategy, if the pattern of security activities in that district can be called a strategy at all. Launched under an amusing array of names such as Operation Tourniquet, Plaster of Paris and Saline Solution in 2002, and up to the outrageous Operation Stiletto in 2005, the war on crime is wobbling along without a winning master plan.
The administration and the police and defence forces are losing the war on crime largely because they are daily losing the battle for the hearts and minds of citizens which is so crucial to success. The five-year-long counter-crime campaign has not had the desired results because the security forces have undermined exactly those values that they should be upholding. Abuse has alienated sections of certain communities, attracting new recruits into criminal gangs thereby promoting, instead of preventing, crime.
The Government Information Agency used to reel off statistics about the numbers of suspects killed, arrests made and homes searched. It is all well and good to take dangerous criminals off the streets. But so many of the wrong people were killed and arrested and the lives of so many innocent citizens turned upside down that the public lost confidence in the security forces. Their excesses led to the erosion of exactly those values of human dignity and human rights by the practice of arbitrary arrests, detention, warrantless searches and torture that they should have upheld.
The administration failed to condemn these abuses, conduct inquests and inquiries and bring abuses to an end. These practices were unlawful, unintelligent and unproductive. The latest violent events in Buxton-Friendship confirm the conviction that tactics undertaken in the name of internal security can actually undermine national security. Law and order can be restored only on the basis of shared national values about the importance of the dignity of the individual and respect for human rights. The administration must be seen always to defend these values.
While a lot of emphasis has been placed on improving the capability of the security forces by the purchase of arms and ammunition, cars, communications and forensic equipment, much less attention has been paid to understanding the human causes of crime. In reality, the counter-crime campaign in that district has been characterised by the absence of visits by senior administration officials and senior police and military officers to meet and speak with the residents.
Ministers – such as those responsible for home affairs, legal affairs, youth affairs, human services and local government – and officers – such as the police commissioner and chief of staff – would do well to pay visits and learn of the people’s legitimate needs. Genuine grievances must be dealt with and injustices must be removed.
The administration and the security forces need to respect the majority of villagers, especially women and children, who are law abiding and wish to live in a peaceful community. This respect will gradually convince even those sympathetic to the criminals that the administration and the security forces care about them. Villagers have no guns, but the criminals do. The challenge for the administration and its security forces is to understand the causes of crime and to turn the tide of citizens’ anger against the gunmen.
Particular attention must be paid to the needs of juveniles – those most likely to be recruited into criminal gangs. Encouraging youths to enter some form of voluntary community service programme that provides education and promises employment is always a good alternative to idleness.
The grand strategists directing the war on crime need to get off their comfortable sofas in Georgetown, understand the feelings of embattled citizens in crime-affected districts, and deal with the crisis in a firm but humane manner.
