Dear Editor,
At approximately 1.20 am on Monday, August 16, just after retiring to bed, I heard intermittent banging at the bottom flat where I live at Lot 14 New Street Cumberland Village, East Canje, Berbice. It had been raining for hours in Berbice that same evening. However, in the midst of the showers, I heard sounds that sounded like someone was trying to gain entry into a storage bond downstairs which belonged to a business I am renting to a tenant.
After convincing myself that it was indeed the sound of an intruder, I alerted my father and immediately telephoned 911 at around 1.25 am using my landline number. I informed the female who answered the phone about my urgent situation, that an intruder was trying to make their way into the bottom flat of my home. The situation was deemed an urgent one because in gaining access to that storage bond, one could have entered the upper flat of the building as well. The banging continued as I related my plight to the 911 operator. My voice was trembling on the telephone. Lo and behold, the operator, after listening to what I had to say, asked me to call 333-2151 (that was the number for the Central Police Station switchboard). I was shocked. I asked her why I needed to call 2151, when there’s 911? She did not answer. I further went on to tell her that what she was requesting me to do in the middle of an emergency was crazy! The operator ‘sucked’ her teeth in disgust at me and hung up the telephone.
My father and I managed to scare the bandit away and we noticed him scampering out of the yard, onto the road, and disappear a few minutes later.
But my mind returned instantly to that telephone conversation. I was angry. The next morning, I telephoned the station Seargant attached to the Central Police Station, Mr Ramlakhan. I told him everything. Then I called Mr Steve Merai, Commander of ‘B’ Division, and related to him that before I go to the press I am informing him of the incident. He assured me that police officers would visit me at 3pm that afternoon to take a statement from me, so that an investigation could be launched. It is one day later, and no one has arrived for a statement.
This is a shame on the Guyana Police Force. A shame on them especially since up to now, they cannot get the 911 system right. Shame on them for that officer’s unprofessional conduct during my emergency which could have seen my home being robbed that evening. I would have sued the GPF if that had happened.
The 911 recordings are there. My conversation with that 911 operator is there – or I think it is there, if they have not erased it. I want this to send a strong message to the police of this country. Shame on the Ministry of Home Affairs. Is this how people’s emergencies are being handled? I want Mr Merai to answer to these allegations. I want that 911 operator who is a police officer to feel the full brunt of an extensive investigation; we can’t have people like her on the force handling people’s emergencies on 911 in that fashion.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Suseran
