Dear Editor,
I am appalled and deeply concerned at the manner in which our police seem so vulnerable and apparently helpless in the face of attacks by persons armed with nothing less than a knife. Not that a knife cannot be a deadly weapon, but not in comparison to a hand gun. The recent incident of a police officer being attacked and repeatedly stabbed by a person with murderous intent is a case in point. The account of what occurred is reported in SN of June 20, 2018.
The cause for concern and alarm on my part is that the officer assaulted appeared to be unable to defend himself and worse, his partner to whom he gave his weapon, according to the report, seemingly stood by and did nothing to repel the attack. Questions that spring to mind are, is self-defence training not part of every policeman’s training routine, and should an armed officer not intervene, with lethal force if necessary, to prevent his partner from being injured, if not killed? I must further enquire as to the Standard Operating Procedures of the Guyana Police Force in such situations as I cannot fathom an armed policeman doing nothing to protect his fellow officer as recorded in the papers, for nothing was reported of his going to his assistance, by even firing a warning shot. Something appears to be uncannily wrong here.
Where else in the world would an armed officer not defend his partner who is being savaged by a criminal? But be sure if this were the US of A he would have been shot out of hand, particularly as he is black and more particularly if he was advancing on a white policeman. But then again given the lopsided relationship between blacks and the predominantly white police, no right thinking black man would make such a suicidal advance on an armed policeman.
It is not that I am advocating the use of lethal force by our police, at least in the first instance, when they are threatened by persons armed with knives or cutlasses, but that officer should have taken some action to save his companion from that horrific stabbing.
1 would therefore like to ask the Commissioner of Police to enlighten me, as well as members of the public, as to the reason for inaction of the armed police officer as related above. I would also like to extend best wishes to officer Randy Claxton for a safe and speedy recovery from the wounds so grievously inflicted on his person.
Yours faithfully,
Lennox Applewhaite