This article below was first published in June, 2014, in a different political era. The recent shooting by the police of three men on the seawall demonstrates the continuing relevance of the issues discussed at that time. I wrote as follows:
Violence and corruption in the Police Force can no longer be classified as allegations. They are real and are now an integral part of the culture of the Police Force and policing in Guyana. The sooner the authorities accept that these are chronic and systemic problems in the Police Force, the quicker there will be a serious attempt at a solution. No such attempt has yet taken place, even though modest efforts at ‘reforms’ have been made. But these have been attempted only reluctantly, after much public pressure and as an attempt to soothe public opinion. When public rage overflows, such as after the shootings in Middle Street, the public is offered the creation of a SWAT team. But the danger now exists that the Police Force will become so enmeshed and so entrenched in violence and corruption, that systems to protect these will take on a life of their own within progressively higher reaches of the Police Force.
Let us be clear. The vast majority of officers, and many of those lower down, are good, honest and dedicated policemen who are revolted by excesses. The Police Force still attracts cadets of quality who go on to become good policemen. But subsisting right alongside this quality is an established mindset, which violates the fundamental principles of policing and of morality.