Acting Commissioner of Police David Ramnarine yesterday urged ranks of the Traffic Department and the Anti-Crime Unit to stop harassing the public while carrying out their duties and he warned that those found guilty of such behaviour would face strict penalties.
“Our role is to serve, not serve at a price,” Ramnarine told ranks during a meeting at the Police Officers Mess, at Eve Leary.
He explained that the practice of police officers soliciting bribes from members of the public, even if no offence is committed, has become a very ridiculous one and he was adamant that any rank found guilty would be fired.
Ramnarine emphasised that unless it is absolutely necessary, all police roadblocks should be conducted in close proximity to a police station or should be done by uniformed ranks in clearly marked police vehicles. He added that police traffic ranks should not stop a vehicle unless he or she has observed that an offence has been committed.
“We are trying to prevent what is referred to as harassment,” he said, while noting that ranks are instructed not to make a stop unless serious offence committed. As it relates to crime, the ranks must have reasonable suspicions before any vehicle is stopped, he noted.
For this year so far, Ramnarine said, a total of 28 officers have been let go for various infractions. “Once you are charged, either criminally or departmentally, you will not be tolerated any longer,” he said while adding, “Once you fall within a certain period of service, out you have to go.”
Among the cases that he made reference to were five instances over the last two weeks where young police constables, when subjected to testing, were found to have drugs in their system. He also referred to a break and enter and larceny at the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) in Linden, during which police responded to a report and decided to help themselves to phones, as well as phone thefts at the Commissioner’s Office and the force’s Training College and the recent accident where a police constable, Timothy Horatio, was operating a minibus while off-duty. The accident resulted in the death of one person, Dillon Linton, while several others were injured.
Ramnarine also said that a lot of ranks are in supervisory positions without any experience. “Gone are the days when you took five and six years to become a supervisor, corporal or sergeant. Today, within years, now probably to a maximum of four years, you are eligible for promotion,” he noted.
He urged the ranks to act in a responsible manner when dealing with members of the public instead of using force unnecessarily and abusing their authority.
He said the behaviour of errant ranks creates obstacles between members of the force and the communities in which they serve.
Ramnarine added that while the quality of recruits has increased, there are issues, such as functional illiteracy, which still exists. Because of this, he said, there will be a need to return to the full package of seven or eight months of training instead of a four month programme that would yield worse results.
The time for this is approaching soon, he noted.
He also mentioned that within recent times there has been an increase in applications by ex-members to rejoin the force but 99% of these was denied. “Senior government officials are being written to by ex-members of the force who claimed that they were unjustifiably dismissed but when we pull up their files, one had 40 charge sheets…,” he explained.
He also referred the ranks to a study conducted in 1995, whereby some 10,559 requests for assistance were analysed. Of the amount, some 8110 or 77% were related to matters of social conflict, such as domestic violence, threats, abuse and various other forms of lawlessness. “An analysis of the interviews showed that most members of the public viewed the police as the first of the social services that they ought to call,” Ramnarine said.
He added, “It is very clear that the police have to be skilled and professional in our actions, you have to be a tower of strength and virtue, you have to be prepared because all of your actions have to be subject to public scrutiny.”
