Political interference, lack of resources and poor training continue to stifle the Guyana Police Force’s ability to solve serious crimes, particularly murders, and if not addressed urgently, the force’s incompetence will grow, Opposition Leader David Granger said.
Granger yesterday assessed the force’s ability to solve a number of killings this year among them the execution of Ricardo Rodrigues, the torture and killing of two policemen and the brutal murder of a woman and her two young children. A number of executions have occurred this year where investigations hit a brick wall.
According to Granger, it is clear that after more than six years, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has done nothing to correct the GPF’s track record of a long list of unsolved crimes and this is among the grounds for the parliamentary motion which called for his removal.
“We don’t have an efficient force under Rohee. I blame Rohee and the government for the state of the police force; for not providing them with the proper tools,” the former brigadier who has a wealth of experience in security issues said, adding that he hasn’t seen Rohee demonstrating the ability to control serious crimes.
During the interview, he acknowledged that there has been an increase in serious crimes that remain unsolved and that this situation existed as a result of several factors. Granger explained that there has been no serious attempt to implement security sector reform over the last ten years. He pointed to the British plan which was signed but which the government pulled out of.
In addition, he said, the government has no national drug strategy in place.
He noted that the Disciplined Forces Commission presented its report 8 years ago, but to date it has not been implemented.
He pointed out that under the Bharrat Jagdeo administration, the police force was also not benefiting from any sort of reform and as a result the professional development of the force was impeded; it has not been equipped to deal with crimes, including transnational crimes.
Making reference to Rodrigues, who was gunned down on October 15 at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club, Granger said, “guns don’t grow on trees. They come from across the border. The police force doesn’t have the ability to secure our borders from narcotics, guns and trafficking in persons.” The Rodrigues execution, which also claimed the life of Canadian Jean Le Blanc, had been linked to guns for drugs. Days before his death, Rodrigues surrendered to police in connection with a huge arms find at Lethem.
Granger stated that only serious reform can enable the police to solve transnational crimes.
He stressed that from his observation there has “been an extraordinary amount of political interference”, in the operations of the force by government ministers, pointing out that this has been happening over the years.
“This [political interference] has paralysed the professional development of the force,” he said pointing out that to date the country does not have a “proper forensic laboratory”. A police forensic lab is currently under construction. It is unclear when it will be completed, if proper equipment has been sourced or persons trained.
Granger, citing the mystery of the Lindo Creek killings, stressed that policing cannot be done without proper equipment, adding that there are many in the force who require re-training.
Back in 2009 when presented with a list of cases, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had admitted that finding breakthroughs in high-profile murders was a challenge for the force. He had highlighted limited forensic capacity, lack of cooperation from witnesses and the exodus of experienced officers among the challenges.
This was after murders rose in 2008 by 36 per cent with many being unsolved even as relatives cried out for justice.
Poor investigations
According to a security source, poor investigations and lack of public trust have left the force is an undesirable state.
The source expressed the opinion that the police held the view that if they didn’t arrest persons in connection with high-profile crimes, there would be a public perception that they are not working. “We don’t do a lot of groundwork when it comes to investigations,” the source said, adding that in the US for example when a crime occurs, investigators are out in the neighbourhood gathering information.
He said one of the biggest hindrances to local sleuths is that members of the public do not cooperate with them. Reference was made to an incident several years ago, when a woman was killed. At that time, the source, said many persons were standing where the incident occurred but to date the police are still not in possession of a description of the getaway vehicle or the killer.
The source pointed out that a witness protection programme is needed, adding that arguments by some senior members of the force that Guyana is too small are not logical. He said such a programme can be a Caricom arrangement if needs be. “We need that. We need to have some sort of mechanism to protect witnesses,” the source said, adding that it is because of fear for their safety that persons don’t come forward to provide information.
The source cited out the case of George Bacchus who was left exposed without any form of protection. He noted that a lot of cases are solved with the help of the public.
The Anna Catherina triple murder is another case where proper procedures were not followed, the source said. Jennifer Persaud, 41, and her sons Afridi Bacchus, 6, and Jadon Persaud, 18 months were discovered dead with their throat slit on September 22. The police had said that they recovered bloodied pants linked to the prime suspect – the woman’s reputed husband. However, this newspaper was told that the amount of blood was so small it did not mesh with the crime committed.
The last time Stabroek News spoke with the crime chief he had said that they were awaiting lab results on the blood sample. This was several weeks ago.
The source noted that a lot more work should have been done in this particular case.
He blamed poor crime scene processing. “I believe that the crime scene people and the investigators should work together,” he said. While keeping the crime scene preserved, they should sit together and ensure that they have all the evidence they needed, even if it meant revisiting the scene. He also pointed out that there ought to be a set of investigators to look specifically at evidence gathering.
The source said that just before the fatal Linden shootings ranks underwent some riot training from an international body. “Training these ranks seems to make little sense. They just doing what they want and they are being allowed to get away with it,” the source said.
The source noted too that everything within the force is being politicized and that is hampering its work since in some cases there is some reluctance by the police to investigate.
Among some of the unsolved cases for 2012 are the murders of Constables Marlon Letlow and Leadon Aaron who were shot to death in Region Eight; Sean De Freitas Sookdeo who was found shot to death and tortured at Thomas Lands; Berbice narcotics detective Jirbahan Dianand who was shot dead in his car at Corentyne as well as the executions of Leonard Mahadeo, Aman Lallchand, Renie Williams and Pest Co boss Mohammed Baksh.
