Again, I leave the reasons for and consequences of the Prorogation; the visible manifestations of unprofessional ineptitude with respect to vital infrastructure and the issue of how our young ladies dress to the more knowledgeable, the more “analytical”.
Instead, because of my considered suspicion that this Season of the Year-End 2014 will see an extremely high-perhaps unprecedented – incidence of traffic gridlock and accidents; of vendor chaos and of criminal activity involving fatal robberies, I choose to examine the quality and effectiveness of our police “protectors”. In terms of just who they are, where did they originate, why and how they ended up in the Guyana Police Force – a once-esteemed national institution some one hundred and seventy-six (176) years old.
The background, training and response to that training; the management/leadership corps and the pay and working conditions all determine, naturally, the type of Police Force or Police Service any society inherits. We focus on the typical Third World, underdeveloped society and not on the more developed Metropolitan Police Departments, reasonably trained and funded; sometimes run by private interests or City Hall(s).
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Barker, Moore – and young police
I’m old enough to know that in colonial times, under expatriate Commissioners, the local Police Force established a proud exemplary tradition even as it did Britain’s bidding. Tested severely after the early sixties of riots and communal excesses, the force was still an institution of respect just past Independence 1966.
Some rot set in by Republicanism 1970, new Constitution 1980 and political influence and manipulation thereafter. It is joked about the “recruitment-procedures” of the thirties-to-fifties: all tall sturdy applicants, mostly African-descended, would be inducted as long as they could take heavy cuffs to the solar plexus. Those “George-Petaytay” recruits needed not to be too literate or intellectual. Humour, aside though, the weary words of late Commissioner Lloyd Barker always resonated with me. His words to the effect were: “You wonder at the standards and quality of today’s policemen and women? Well they come from the same society you have now provided. We take what’s available”.
Commissioner Barker also meant that since the more qualified, the more well-to-do; the youngsters better suited to training, would not seek out the Force as a career, he had to make do with the “material” available and willing to take the risks of a sometimes high-risk occupation.
And when an old girlfriend of mine was wrongly put before the Courts, then prosecutor, now new Ombudsman, Justice Winston Moore, mentioned to the Magistrate that, in his (Moore’s) opinion, “Many government workers including the young policemen join their professions not for a long-term career – but for the runnings!” I tend to agree with that observation these days.
It would be of some significance if some research could reveal how many young police members dropped out of the force after a relatively short period. What do they do with the skills acquired? It was the late Commissioner Laurie Leyland Lewis who once provided me with a list of GDF soldiers who had absconded to become some of Guyana’s most dangerous murderous criminals using the skills and country-wide knowledge they picked up in the Army. From Eyelash to Blackie London! I had quipped to Commissioner Lewis that Major General Joe G. Singh could probably have given me another list of ex-police bandits as well.
Today’s good cops, bad cops
They come from West Coast Berbice, Haslington, Ann’s Grove, Queenstown and Dartmouth; some from Linden and Soesdyke, Charlestown and East Ruimveldt. Yes they are mostly Afro-Guyanese because the Force’s entrance test could be friendly. It will be a job-short term or long term.
Guyana’s perennial socio-cultural question – no “mystery” – as to why Indo-Guyanese do not rush into the Police and Army as they do into agriculture, commerce and the University remains a fertile ground for research. (After all, “Indians” have actually headed the Army and the Police!)
Today’s good young law-enforcement officers – from courteous traffic cop to dedicated detective – probably love policing and people; they come from a background of parenting, good primary schools and religious exposure. The crooked ones, Frankly Speaking, follow the example of the senior suspect “role-models”. The bad cops roam the inner city, know the society’s worst and exploit rich and poor, comfortable in the thought – or knowledge – that corruption is nestled at the very top.
Be aware and vigilant about your own personal safety this year end. And encourage the good cops you might know.
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A housefly from Port to Fort!
There was this housefly – or aeroplane fly(?) – who boarded with passengers travelling from Port of Spain, Trinidad to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
Considering the travails which detract from the comfort and joy of air travel these days, this passenger-fly was easily superior to the humans: no Immigration or Customs could bother it. No zealous Trinidadian security who aggressively monitored Guyanese could detect it. No huge sniffer dog at Fort Lauderdale could even see the fly.
And both at the American airport and in Florida proper, the travelling housefly smiled, then laughed? For like hundreds of Mexican and Central American children, Passenger Housefly had eluded the overworked, outnumbered US Customs and Border Protection of America’s Homeland Security Department. Protection?
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Consider seriously…
So should the Force (continue to) publicize the photos and bio’s of applicants/recruits for public comment?
Lists five reasons why Guyana’s lawmen can’t get Tasers or wear body cameras?
Again I say, well-meaning laws are nullified when the “officers” take “a raise” and let offenders go. Daily!
Start lining up! Secret financiers for all the Parties’ campaigns.
American Thanksgiving? Okay So you import it into Georgetown because you have lots to be thankful for? Huh? Okay…
`Til next week!
