Last week, the public learnt that $3.4 million of public funds were discovered missing from a locked canister in the Finance Office at the Police Headquarters at Eve Leary. The news that three members of the Force were “assisting in investigations” confirmed the public’s worst apprehensions about the Force’s integrity and further eroded its credibility as the country’s primary law enforcement agency.
The catalogue of crimes committed by serving policemen seems to grow daily. Last month, Commissioner of Police Henry Greene had reported that formal complaints – many for “corrupt practices” – against members of the Force had surged by 11 per cent in 2009 to an average of about one every 48 hours. But official responses to the epidemic have been unconvincing and the remedies have been ineffectual. The Commissioner now needs to switch from mere prosecution to an examination of the causes for such persistent criminality in the Force.
Investigation into crimes committed by policemen is now a big enough problem to provide full-time occupation for two agencies – the Guyana Police Force’s Office of Professional Responsibility and the Police Complaints Authority. The former, headed by a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police is staffed by eight policemen who record statements, conduct investigations and refer the matters to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice. The latter is headed by a retired Chancellor of the Judiciary who does not have any investigative capability. He is obliged to refer all complaints against the police to the Police Commissioner. He must then await the Commissioner’s response before making recommendations.
Apart from the administration’s determination to appoint superannuated officials to lead these two agencies, the awkwardness, slowness and shallowness of the process have clearly not deterred dauntless policemen from their criminal behaviour.
The Guyana Police Force, on the one hand, must consider employing its own full-time legal adviser to avoid having to refer every serious case to the Director of Public Prosecution for advice. The Ministry of Home Affairs, on the other hand, must consider providing the Police Complaints Authority with a team of agents, under its direct control, who could conduct investigations promptly to avoid having to refer every serious case to the Commissioner. This recommendation was made to the Disciplined Forces Commission six years ago and has been publicly iterated by Justice Cecil Kennard himself, without effect.
While the official complaints mechanisms move slowly, there has been a boom in crimes by policemen. Last December, a police constable was one of three men held for a robbery at Crabwood Creek, Corentyne during which the victim was handcuffed and relieved of cash and jewellery. In September, three policemen from the Leonora Police Station stole $4.3 million out of $5.8 million they retrieved from suspects held for the robbery and murder of a gold dealer in the Essequibo River. In May, a policeman and a merchant were accused of robbing a man at gunpoint of a motor van and several other items totalling $8.3 million. In February, a policeman was charged with demanding money by menace with intent to steal it while he and three other policemen were conducting a stop-and-search exercise. There are more.
Crimes such as these in the Force can no longer be treated as marginal departmental misdemeanours, and the manner of investigating them requires a serious rethink. Crime has triggered a vicious cycle – police corruption corrodes credibility and paralyses effective law enforcement… the lack of effective law enforcement fosters criminality and police corruption. There are too many crooked cops and common thieves in the Guyana Police Force.
The public deserves better.
