I wish to respond to a letter in SN of November 23 captioned ‘The treatment of the rural constable in the Chateau Margot shooting sends a bad signal to policing groups,’ written by Clement Sarran.
It is not true to say that the Minister of Home Affairs and the Guyana Police Force did not show respect for Rural Corporal Davanand Shyamraj’s heroic act of bravery. Despite the busy schedule in preparing the security arrangements for the recently concluded UNASUR summit, which arrangements fall to the Minister who also has responsibility for the Guyana Police Force, the ‘C’ Division Com-mander dispatched ranks immediately from Sparendaam Police Station to the residence of Corporal D. Shyamraj soon after his discharge from the hospital. The Commander received a report via telephone from the officer.
Further, Deputy Commander SSP Mr E Bassant paid Mr Shyamraj an official visit on behalf of ‘C’ Division. Further, the Minister delegated retired ACP Mr Ovid Glasgow, who cut short a religious celebration, to visit Mr D Shyamraj.
He was briefed by the divisional body about the main points of an emergency meeting held by the divisional executive on the matter, which was followed by a visit by the divisional executive to the funeral home of the slain shop-owner to pay their respects to the family.
The Ministry of Home Affairs plans to honour Rural Corporal Mr D Shyamraj for his outstanding performance beyond the call of duty.
Indeed the Government of Guyana and the GPF have always expressed publicly their support for community policing in Guyana and have constantly assured all members that it would continue to work in collaboration with CPGs across the country to mimmize crime.
Finally, I wish to state that community policing has no part in politics, therefore reference to the “spoiling of ballots” was uncalled for, as the criminals do not look to see which political party residents belong to before they hurt them and their families.
Yours faithfully,
Imtiaz A Zafarali
PRO
‘C’ Division Community Policing Executive
