Four policemen being charged on Friday over the soliciting of a $6m bribe to free cocaine smugglers underlines the depth of the challenges facing law enforcement and the Ministry of Public Security. The public anxiously awaits charges against the cocaine smugglers in this case and hopes that testimony will be forthcoming from those from whom the bribe was solicited. The only bright spot, if one can call it that, is the pressing of charges by the police against four of its own following an investigation by its internal affairs unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).
Under the previous PPP/C administration and the then police hierarchy, investigations by the OPR of serious allegations against policemen were known to languish for months before finally petering out without charges. Clearly there was no appetite for charges because of the wall of silence that enabled and covered some of the most egregious offences by law enforcers. So Friday’s charging of Assistant Superintendent Browne and Constables McKenzie, Saul and McPhoy must be seen as a positive development even if it points in the direction of ongoing corruption in the force.
It must be noted that the welcome expediting of investigations of the September 10-11 incident by the OPR and the charging of the quartet follows recent training by the U.S. Department of Justice for the OPR under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative Police Integrity Program. It also comes amid approval for the Police Complaints Authority to have an investigative arm independent of the police and the clear warnings by the new government that police abuse and corruption will be stringently penalised.
The charges against the four and ongoing reports of police shenanigans highlight the complex dilemma facing the APNU+AFC administration and the Ministry of Public Security. At what point in the well-publicised quest for a new policing culture scrubbed free of corruption might the government have to consider radical options? The new government inherited a police force which had been weighed down by corruption, human rights abuses and political interference. A few hierarchical changes have occurred but can that be sufficient to drive home zero tolerance for transgressions and seed a new culture wherein this disease had been so entrenched? This is what the government must make up its mind on and not allow the force to slip into the anomie of the past. It already faces a stark challenge to rein in crime although the new Crime Chief Blanhum has won plaudits for progress on some murders.
No matter the green shoots of progress the government has to keep a close eye on developments as it will have to in the case of illegal firearms. Minister of Public Security Ramjattan’s one-month amnesty has yielded up 142 weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. That is a welcome return by any measurement. The surrender of 115 shotguns alone in the hinterland is a sign that people in those parts have taken this amnesty seriously. Those 115 shotguns also point to the number of weapons that might be in those regions.
As reported in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, the majority of the shotguns belong to hinterland farmers who have used them for hunting and defence of their livestock. The Ministry should expedite as far as it can licences for those who are deemed worthy of the continued use of shotguns for their livelihoods.
The amnesty has been extended by two weeks but in the meanwhile the police now have to begin preparing for the real hard work. The surrendering of weapons from interior communities will create a feeling of insecurity which the police must show that they are capable of addressing. The police network in the hinterland needs immediate bolstering.
There are a number of other challenges the police must grapple with as a result of this amnesty. The first is the swift need for ballistic testing of all the recovered firearms to determine their antecedents and whether they can solve recent murders and robberies in the interior. Do the police have the required facilities and personnel for these tests? Is its troubled forensic science laboratory capable of stepping in here?
After the extended amnesty ends at the middle of this month, is the government prepared for what is going to come next? Crime has continued to occur with the use of firearms even amid the amnesty. Very few firearms have been surrendered in Georgetown where crime is high. From the information so far provided it would appear that the hard core criminals are holding onto their arsenal as was expected. What will be the police’s strategy in targeting them? The government would be aware that all amnesties are followed swiftly by the strict application of the law. The current legislation governing illicit firearms has quite stiff penalties when the charges are taken indictably. It would be the expectation of the public that the police force will seek without fear or favour to charge indictably anyone caught with illicit firearms following the end of the amnesty.
The elephant in the room remains. What will the government do about the porous borders and ports through which illicit firearms make their way onto the country’s streets? While 142 weapons is an impressive catch it won’t be so if similar numbers flow into the local marketplace unchecked. It simply won’t make sense. There has been no statement yet by the government or the Ministry of Public Security on how they hope to interdict the illicit weapons trade and more effectively patrol borders like the one to the west. There should be.
