Dear Editor,
Again the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is featured in the killing of a person under mysterious circumstances. This time it is 16-year-old Patentia Secondary School student Kelvin Fraser. Relatives, students and possibly the entire country are stunned by this recent development. For too long the GPF has been allowed to behave unprofessionally and brutally towards the citizens of Guyana. At some point the force needs to discipline its own severely whenever they operate outside the confines of the law, instead of finding every excuse of self defence to hide behind. After all, they are supposed to be the enforcers of law and therefore should go about their business professionally and ethically.
Guyanese people do not need a Police Force that is made up of uniformed bad boys, but professionally trained lawmen who are committed to discharging their duties with the highest standards of dignity and respect for those they encounter. The GPF has firing orders. The police patrol at the Patentia High School must justify their use of deadly force on schoolchildren.
Just last year there was a very interesting exchange between Mr Francis Carryl and Mr Robin Williams over the use of deadly force by the GPF. Maybe this is a discussion that needs to be revisited.
We can only wait with bated breath for the GPF to complete their investigation and present the facts of what really took place at that school. Let’s see if their story corroborates that of the many eyewitnesses. But then again that hardly ever happens.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Francois
