Ranks of the Guyana Police Force do not have the right to refuse to take reports from victims regardless of the jurisdiction where the incident occurred and those who are found guilty of such action will be disciplined.
This is according to Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, who said that in such instances, systems are in place for the reports to be forwarded to the necessary locations despite the distance.
“The report must be taken so that even though the relevant and the more central police station that has to take it [is not nearby], that will be conveyed to that police station. I think that might just be lethargy and laziness on the part of the policeman who is told about the report,” the minister said.
In the past, there have been instances whereby persons would turn up to the nearest police station to report a criminal offence but were sent away after being told by the police that they can’t take the report since the offence was not committed in the station’s jurisdiction.
When questioned by Stabroek News recently, Ramjattan said that such action is “absolutely wrong” and will not be tolerated.
According to the minister, the report ought to be taken at the police station where the victim/ complainant first turns up, after which ranks are to inform their colleagues at the relevant police station.
“That is absolutely wrong on the police force…The report ought to be taken and especially in emergencies…by the police station that the person first went to. Even if it is just a telephone call to tell the other police station that a report of that nature was taken here,” Ramjattan said.
He explained that a system is in place whereby one police station can forward a report to another.
“…Yes that is what happens. So if a murder is committed at Corentyne and we know that the person murder…almost all the police stations can get to know immediately what is happening,” he related.
He warned that any rank found refusing to take a report will be disciplined departmentally.
In the same breath, Ramjattan encouraged persons who have experienced this in the past to make a complaint, which would then be forwarded to the Office of Professional Responsibility and the necessary actions taken.
Professionalise
“That is what we are trying to professionalise here. We are in the process of ensuring…and those cases where that happen, I would like to get a little short complaint from the citizen so that I can send it to the Office of Professional Responsibility. The policeman or station sergeant that does that will certainly be disciplined because there are departmental charges for doing that,” the minister said.
There have been a number of complaints over the years of police ranks refusing to take reports.
In January this year, Bourda market vendor Zabida Khan had such an experience after she contacted the ranks at the Bourda police outpost, following an armed robbery at her stall.
“They [the ranks] came and pick me up to go to the Bourda outpost cause I called and told them I can’t leave here, I am in a state of shock. Now they redirect me to Alberttown station,” she had said.
She said she made a report at the Alberttown Police Station the following day but they too did not take a statement from her.
Another example of such an occurrence was in September 2017, when a police rank was caught on video assaulting a male civilian, who had visited the police outpost at Water Street, Georgetown, to make a report.
In the two-minute video, which was recorded by the civilian and subsequently shared on Facebook, the man was heard repeatedly asking to make a report of an alleged threat to him by another individual on Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic.
Two ranks, including a corporal, were present in the outpost, which was located near the Muneshwer’s building on Water Street.
However, the ranks refused to take a report and directed the man to the Brickdam Police Station.
Further, in 2013, a Corentyne family of seven, who were allegedly terrorised for an hour by three men claiming to be police officers, accused the police at the Springlands Police Station of refusing to take their statements when they went to make a report. They immediately travelled to Georgetown to lodge a complaint.
Meanwhile, when contacted for a comment on the issue, Commissioner of Police Leslie James told Stabroek News that he was not aware of such situations within the police force since it was never bought to his attention.
“I don’t know that that is an existing situation…There was no survey done and that has not occurred to us as a problem,” James said.
“I don’t know anything about that. That was never bought to my attention as an issue. All ranks are trained and they are expected to be professional and that’s all I would say on that matter,” he added.
