Photographs of six more men said to be wanted by the police in connection with the Lusignan and Bartica massacres have not been released by the police force to Stabroek News.
The February 23 edition of the Guyana Chronicle carried on its front page the photographs of six persons said to be wanted by the police. A day later, the Kaieteur News carried on its front page the six photographs and its headline on page three accompanying the photographs said that the police had released photos of “Buxton gang members”.
To date, Stabroek News has not received the press release or the photographs. When this newspaper checked with the Police Public Relations Office on Sunday and yesterday the office said it was unaware of the press release and the photos.
Asked for an explanation, Press and Public Relations Officer of the Guyana Police Force, Ivelaw Whittaker told this newspaper that he had “no comment”. When the Guyana Defence Force public relations office was contacted yesterday, it referred Stabroek News back to the Guyana Police Force.
Stabroek News Editor Anand Persaud yesterday condemned what he said was the selective release of information by the police/Joint Services to media houses. He said there could be no justification whatsoever for this practice which appears to occur above the level of the public relations office. Persaud said that this recurring problem was recently raised with UK advisor John Beverly who was here to work with the police on media relations as part of the British-funded Security Sector Reform Action Programme (SSRAP). Persaud said the problem was also discussed at a subsequent two-day seminar that the advisor presided over.
Persaud contended that programmes like SSRAP and others would not succeed if the police and Joint Services did not begin to behave professionally towards all sectors of society including the media.
Persaud argued that the public will have very little confidence in the Joint Services if it discerned that it was behaving unprofessionally in the disseminating of crucial public information.
Persaud said this latest incident is reminiscent of the release of a sketch of a suspect in the murder of a USAID official several years ago here.
Persaud said in that case the release of the sketch was said to have been done unprofessionally by a senior officer to the Kaieteur News. This matter was meant to have been investigated. The Editor said that the premature and selective release of the sketch may have irreparably damaged that particular murder investigation.
Persaud called on the Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene to investigate the selective release of the photographs and to make his findings available to the public.
