It is not often that the Guyana Police Force is commended for doing the right thing, but late on Friday it did just that by apologizing to a victim of unlawful acts on the part of its officers.
It might be recalled that on Monday, October 11, two van loads of police broke into Ms Michelle Basdeo’s house in Bougainvillea Park, Farm, on the East Bank Demerara while she was out. On inspecting her property on her return, she discovered the doors to the house broken and a piece of the grillwork cut. Louvre panes from a window had been removed and the mosquito mesh slashed, while inside the home doors were left open, door locks were damaged and the interior was in total disarray. As if that were not enough, the sheet on her bed bore the imprint of a boot, and a watch and a pair of diamond earrings were found to be missing.
The officers of the law had, of course, entered the wrong house, and needless to say they had no search warrant. Ms Basdeo told this newspaper that when she arrived, she encountered police officers in front of her building with guns at the ready, while their colleagues were engaged in a search of the neighbour’s house opposite, where they arrested two men, detaining them briefly. Before Ms Basdeo herself reached home on that day, her sister had come and found the house “open to the public.” Apparently one of the policemen asked the sister if she lived there, and before she could answer he then went on to say, “Oh, we finish with yuh house.” It was a casual dismissal of what could only be characterized as an illegal search involving not just the destruction of property but possibly even theft. At the point the officer told the sister those words he must have been aware that they had entered the wrong house.
Exactly what the police were looking for – human, vegetable or mineral, so to speak – has not been divulged, although we did report that last Saturday the joint services had searched another house several doors away from the one occupied by Ms Basdeo, and that they had gone in again on the Monday, gaining entry by breaking a window. It was, we understood, the residence of an East Bank businessman who was reported to be wanted by the police for questioning. Are we to infer, therefore, that since the nation’s finest could not locate a man they wanted for questioning at his known residence, they simply thought they would try a few other houses in the street instead?
Or is it that the police who went to look for the man on Monday, were not the same officers who had been dispatched on Saturday, and so didn’t know which the right house was? Or alternatively, was it that before the two van loads of armed police set out on their mission no one bothered to check the address? Or then again, was it that they did get the address, but when they reached Bougainvillea Park no one could remember the lot number?
Perhaps they were they not looking for a man at all, but something else. If that is the case then exactly what were they looking for, more especially considering that they did not have a search warrant? By what process exactly did they end up breaking into the wrong house more in the style of common criminals than the protectors of the public? Surely we have not come to the point where the police themselves are so sublimely ill informed about the law of the land and their role in society that they believe they can break into any citizen’s house on whim, just in case they might be harbouring an illegal substance, a wanted man or whatever?
When this newspaper interviewed Ms Basdeo on Tuesday last week she made it clear that an apology would not be acceptable; she wanted the damage to her home repaired and the missing items replaced. It seems she got her wish on the first of her requirements, since the release on Friday stated that the police had effected repairs to her building. There was no reference to the missing items, and that is something which clearly needs to be inquired into; given the scandals of more recent times the force can ill afford to continue to cultivate an image that some of its officers belong more properly among the ranks of thieves rather than with men in uniform.
While the apology was very much in order, no explanation was offered in the GPF statement as to the train of events which had led the police to break into Ms Basdeo’s house in the first place; all that was said was that it was the “result of a mistake.” From the point of view of the public, that is not good enough; they should be reassured that an investigation is under way to find out what series of errors caused the officers to violate a private home, the occupier of which was not wanted for anything, and was not under suspicion of any wrongdoing. And when those facts have been established, the public wants to hear that those responsible have been disciplined. After all, Ms Basdeo’s experience could become the experience of any law-abiding citizen anywhere in this country unless measures are taken by the senior echelons of the force to ensure that the officers under their command do not exceed their powers.
Furthermore, there have been innumerable complaints in the past when the police or the joint services are searching a dwelling, of their utter disrespect for residents and their property, even when the householder is present. It was on display again in Ms Basdeo’s case. Clearly, officers need some refresher courses on how to conduct searches without damaging household effects, etc, and how to operate with civility.
On a positive note, Ms Basdeo told Stabroek News how impressed she was with the professionalism of ‘A’ Division Commander George Vyfhuis when she went to Brickdam Police Station on Tuesday to complain. “I am very pleased with the way he spoke to me,” we quoted her as saying; “I don’t know how much more like that we can get.” Yes, indeed.
