Dear Editor,
Where do we go for protection, if as ordinary citizens we don’t have confidence in the Guyana Police Force?
In 2009 a teenager was tortured by Sergeant Narine Lall and Constable Mohanram Dolai, yet these two rogue police officers have now been promoted to higher rank: Sergeant Narine Lall to Inspector and Constable Mohanran Dolai to corporal.
In SN, 20, 2015, the Minister of Home Affairs like Pontius Pilate, disclaimed responsibility when he said, “I have nothing to do with the Police Service Commission.
“That is a constitutional body which makes decisions in their own rights, on their own judgment …”; he also said that “…officers at that level are recommended by the Police Commissioner. Did the Commissioner and members of the Police Service Commission ignore or forget the record of torture in the case of those two officers? Are we to believe that based on the PSC’s own judgment those officers are now given more power to commit more heinous crimes? Is it that police officers are rewarded for grave misconduct? Where or to whom do we go when we are abused by the junior ranks in the Guyana Police Force?
The Guyana Police Force and its members are not above the law, but are supposed to be the law enforcers with the mandate to protect and serve; yet some are allowed to get away with criminal activities such as murder, torture, rape/sexual assaults, physical and verbal assaults and the list goes on and on.
Editor, where do we go from here? What are we to think as ordinary citizens? It seems that there are three kinds of law operating in Guyana: one for the police, one for those with money and power and the third for poor people. This lawlessness cannot be allowed to continue. We demand a police force which respects and upholds the rule of law.
The law should stand for all and not some.
Yours faithfully,
Joy Marcus, Red Thread
Wintress White, Red Thread
Susan Collymore, Grassroots
Women Across Race (GWAR)