Dear Editor,
The majority of us depended on the disciplined forces to protect us from internal and external hostility and illegal elements. Throughout history the security forces depended on the cooperation of citizens generally, who they in turn must protect. When several sections of the community begin to lose confidence in our security forces, we are travelling along a rocky road to anarchy and the rending of the already fragile fabric of our society.
I was quite surprised when speaking to groups of young persons from the city, West Demerara and lower East Coast, as well as a group of responsible citizens over lunch recently. The majority of them expressed a lack of confidence in what the security forces say and do.
Within the officer corps of the army and police, and the prison and fire services, there exists a number of honest and dedicated officers, but they are being tainted by a few outlaws. The Commander-in-Chief, the Chief-of-Staff, Commissioner of Police and other heads must take measures to regain lost ground within the society if we re all not to be victims of a developing environment.
I can make some suggestions.
1. Expedite Hinckson’s trial to avoid the perception that this is not an ordinary prosecution.
2. Produce a full report on the many unsolved assassinations we have had, including Satyadeow Sawh, Ronald Waddell and the Bacchus’ brothers, among others.
3. Give a credible report on the Lindo Creek massacre. When will the forensic results be made available? When I spoke recently to Lyken’s Funeral Parlour management, they said that the remains were still in their possession. It is high time we hear from the eye-witness − unless there is a change in the meaning of the term − who was one witness to the massacre. We can assume that person would be able to identify who did this gruesome act. For the police sake, this eyewitness should also be subject to a polygraph test conducted by an independent credible technical team.
We need to know to bring closure to what must not go down as an unsolved mystery.
4. Government must also explain why they did not accept the offer to have a forensic review by an independent and competent overseas team. These are only some of the troubling issues and I hope that for the sake of all of us citizens who would like to live in an environment where we can have trust in our security forces, we will get specific answers.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green JP
