Dear Editor,
The country seems to be unsure about what policing is about, and what kinds of accountability should be demanded from the Minister of Home Affairs. Over the last 12 months, we have witnessed police involvement in the killing of Ron Somerset, Shemroy Bouyea, Ivan Lewis, Shaquille Grant and Dameon Belgrave. We have seen the police beat Ms Prince and her son in Marudi, and seen this happen in the presence of citizens and public servants.
The Linden Commission of Inquiry has included some comments about the reform needed in policing, much as other initiatives have done over the years.
In 1964, Minister Janet Jagan resigned as Minister of Home Affairs after the failure of the police to protect the victims of the riots in the 1963 and 1964 violence. Her resignation statement made it clear that she resigned because the police at the time were not impartial in their treatment of citizens.
It is necessary to read Mrs Jagan’s thinking in 2013, 100 years after police killed Indian labourers at Rose Hall Estate, because it also tells of her vision for the Guyana Police Force. Mrs Jagan stated that despite the problems of policing at that time she felt that “… with an earnest and sustained effort and the goodwill of all concerned, the problem would be solved and we would evolve a balanced and impartial Police Force working in cooperation with the Government and the people…”
As we watch in horror as the Minister of Home Affairs and the Guyana Police Force have not detained the man who beat Ms Prince and her son, we read Mrs Jagan, referring to other ‘illegals’, fifty years ago as she had written to the Commissioner in relation to the police brutality against peaceful squatters on the East Coast “Your task is to see that law and order are maintained as impartially as possible. You have to expect a comparison of Police action now with such action last year. If squatters in 1963 could invade Government offices without receiving bayonet wounds it is not too much to expect that squatters should be allowed to sit on roads without being injured.”
Is it too much to expect in 2013, that Ms Prince or any citizen could sit on any road in protest without being injured or killed by the police?
Many times the lament is made that there are bad police and that they give the Guyana Police Force a bad name. Many of us who work with police know that there are many who seek to do the right thing. Mrs Jagan wrote “a good section of the Police Force of all ranks are conscientious, fair-minded and loyal. But many of these have had to close their eyes to injustices for fear of disfavour. I know Police officers of all races who have been harassed and hounded because they have sought to do their duty as they know in conscience it must be done.”
We witnessed the debacle of the former Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, who it seemed was immune from any sanctions from those to whom he reported, even as we expected the police to do better as they dealt with sexual violence and domestic violence − crimes which affect women. Mrs Jagan wrote “The tragedy is that the effectiveness of the loyal section of the Police Force is seriously impaired by the misdeeds of their colleagues.”
Many of us prefer not to wear seat belts, and we do enjoy the 120km/h drives on the new roads and as a result, sometimes view policing as a nuisance.
The Minister of Home Affairs has indicated some measures for reform. The tragedy though is that the Minister’s best intentions would not work if he does not feel accountable, as Mrs Jagan obviously did, for the performance of the institution which he and she inherited and which since then and until now, is in desperate need of reform.
Yours faithfully,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
