Even as Police Commissioner Henry Greene was expressing satisfaction with this year’s performance and congratulating awardees at the Guyana Police Force’s annual Awards Ceremony last week, reports about police conduct continued to make the news.
As the end of 2009 approaches, it should be clear that police performance has been most affected by two very serious problems – the changing behaviour of policemen themselves and the changing character of crime – which will not go away without holistic police reform.
The worst case of police misbehaviour this year was the torture of the boy at Leonora. Twyon Thomas who was tortured at the Leonora Police station on October 28 has become a poster-boy of civil society and citizens rights groups who seek a higher level of human security than the force has been accustomed to providing. Despite expressions of “deep regret” by the Minister of Home Affairs over the incident, there has been no indication that, apart from the cosmetic re-shuffling of divisional commanders, a root-and branch reform plan has been implemented to deal with such gross misconduct.
Only last week, the police killed an 18-year-old who was thought to be one of three men who robbed a family at Hampshire Village, Corentyne. In another incident, an off-duty policeman killed a man outside a bar in Georgetown. These shooting incidents are not isolated. According to the Commissioner, the police killed 12 persons in ‘confrontations’ by mid-December this year. The shootings are symptomatic of deep-seated deficiencies in the training of policemen which have remained uncorrected for over three decades.
The Commissioner admitted that there had been an 11 per cent increase in the number of complaints forwarded to his own Office of Professional Responsibility. The number soared to 180 complaints this year. He admitted, also, that 62 members of the force are at present before the courts to answer charges for various crimes. At this rate, the ‘Office’ may soon have to be upgraded and expanded to department size in order to investigate the increasing volume of complaints.
The changing character of crime has been evident for a long time, but the force has been slow to respond. The Commissioner did report increases in crimes in ‘D,’ ‘E,’ F’ and ‘G’ Police Divisions. The reasons are that these contiguous mega-divisions occupy seven of the ten administrative regions of the country. Their unpoliced borders with Brazil and Venezuela and long, open coastline offer easy access for guns, drugs and other contraband items including alcohol and fuel.
The Commissioner reported, in addition, that his statistics over the years have shown that “most robberies are committed with guns.” The availability of illegal guns, he said, is a major challenge for the force. There has also been an increase in the rental of illegal guns, most of which are being used by bandits. While gun crimes are increasing, gun seizures are decreasing. He said that the force seized only 92 illegal firearms so far this year compared with 134 last year. He must know by now that the illegal guns come across our open borders.
Criminals have taken advantage of the low level of law enforcement on the coastal waterways and in the hinterland. It is well known that the Pomeroon-Supenaam and the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Regions are the main entry points and conduits for all sorts of contraband from the hinterland and Venezuela. It should be no surprise that there has been an increase in crime in these regions.
Law enforcement is not a matter of luck and chance. The problems that affected the Guyana Police Force in 2009 are the results of faults – personnel shortages, under-resourcing, inappropriate training and an obsolete divisional structure which must be rectified. Delaying reform will not diminish the problem.
