Do the Minister of Home Affairs and the Commis-sioner of Police think that they have an obligation to tackle the gruesome wife murders that have been rocking rural communities this year? It should be apparent to both men that the present law-enforcement measures with respect to the human security of persons at risk are not functioning.

Effective policing of communities must mean more than handing out berets and batons to Community Policing Groups and employing so-called Neighbour-hood Police to assist at stations. These organisations should aim at ensuring the safety of the most vulnerable residents – women, children, the aged and infirm – from critical threats and any form of domestic violence within communities.

But there has been precious little protection for potential victims. Last week, for example, Latchmin Mohabir of Triumph Village on the East Coast Demerara was badly chopped when her husband attempted to kill her. The assailant was reported to have habitually threatened his intended victim. Yaswattie Samaroo was stabbed to death at Port Mourant in Berbice by her reputed husband last month. Bridgette Gangadeen’s mangled cadaver was thrown on the Public Road in Vigilance Village on the East Coast in May. Her husband has been charged with her murder.

Donnette Ward was stabbed to death at her mother’s home at Herstelling on the East Bank Demerara, allegedly by her husband, in April. Liloutie ‘Pinky’ Seeram of Glasgow on the East Bank Berbice was hacked to death by her husband. The victim’s screams on the night of her murder were dismissed by her neighbours who thought that the couple were having “one of their regular fights…”

The March killings suggest, similarly, that neighbours had long been witnesses to threatening situations. Jacqueline George was bound and burnt in her home in Sophia after her reputed husband had repeatedly threatened to kill her.  Jairool ‘Chico’ Rohoman of Betsy Ground in Berbice was found floating in the Canje River two days after she went to her abusive, former reputed husband’s house. Esther Liloutie Albert of Crabwood Creek died after she reportedly “fell” from her stairs after a binge. Okemo Todd was stabbed to death during an argument at her home in Charlestown. A neighbour informed the press afterwards “They does fight a lot in deh.”

Sunita Muniram, whose body was found in a canal close to a koker at Nismes on the West Bank Demerara in January, was also a victim of violence.  Nalini ‘Nalo’ Bhoge was chopped to death at her home in Skeldon, Berbice. Luciana Bhagwandin was murdered after being threatened by a man whose advances she had rejected. Her mother complained that reports had been made to the police.

The body count of murdered wives this year, shamefully, is rising. Some of these crimes could certainly have been forestalled, however, if the policing of communities was intelligently and efficiently executed.

Community policing, in its conventional form, promotes partnerships and problem-solving techniques to improve public safety by forging bonds of mutual trust between the police and the community. Vigilant community and neighbourhood policing, properly practised, could monitor risky relationships and, possibly, prevent wife murders which are committed – obviously – by spouses, not strangers. In the corrupted form that is preferred in this country, community policing has degenerated into a chain of costumed clubs which ignore indications of dangerous transgressions by fellow residents.

Wife murders are occurring too frequently to be overlooked. The Minister of Home Affairs and Commissioner of Police must rethink their policy for community policing if our vulnerable women are to be protected from their violent partners.