On Monday this newspaper issued an appeal to President David Granger in the form of a Page One Comment. We asked him to determine how the serious allegations of police corruption in Berbice provided by policemen themselves could be recorded and investigated. The detail which had been furnished was credible, said the Comment, and the preparedness of several members of the Force to give chapter and verse should be taken seriously.
Those who had spoken out did so after the numbers of four of their fellow officers had been found in a phone belonging to accused bandit Kelvin Shivgobin, who was killed in a shootout with the police at Black Bush Polder recently. They alleged that the four were engaged in corrupt practices in association with a senior officer currently based in Georgetown, but who had once served in Berbice.
Their accusations found endorsement from a policeman more senior to them, who told this newspaper that he felt obliged to reveal what he knew after the junior ranks had broken their silence. What they all had to say reads more like a script from a Hollywood crime movie, than everyday police operations in Guyana’s Ancient County.
Among other things, the senior officer was alleged to have been running what could only be described as a protection racket, and this newspaper was told that junior ranks collected packages on his behalf. When asked about the contents of the packages, the response from the police source was that to his knowledge they contained “strictly money.” He also expressed a suspicion that the senior officer was putting ranks who worked for him in strategic positions which would benefit him. And these, it might be noted, were not the most junior ranks. As we reported, he identified a Detective Corporal, who would collect packages from a businessman in Springlands, Corentyne for the senior officer; an Inspector of Police, who collected packages on the West Coast of Berbice; and a Lance Corporal, who collected packages at Rose Hall Town, Corentyne.
What perhaps should draw the attention of the Head of State, was the allegation from several sources both in and out of ‘B’ Division, that the senior officer would often boast that he was the “President’s boy.” The source said that while stationed in Berbice, the senior officer would “brag and boast that the President send he deh…”
Furthermore, a number of ranks told Stabroek News that the senior officer was well known as the person to contact when in trouble. They mentioned a gambling venue in Rosehall, where he received money from those who wanted matters settled in their favour. “When he call you and tell you take care of a matter, you got to do what he say or is problem for you,” one rank told this newspaper, adding that the senior officer has “business friends” around ‘B’ Division, whom he protects.
We also reported the source as saying that the senior officer was often seen in the company of known criminals. In one case, he attended a private event in Number 53 Village, Corentyne, where certain known criminals were present. The informant related that a criminal who had faced murder, attempted murder, assault, and armed robbery charges had been seen drinking in the company of the senior policeman.
Perhaps the most disturbing allegation – if anything could be much more disturbing than police officers being engaged in protection rackets, cover-ups and consorting with criminals – was that the Lance Corporal involved in the corruption affair was paid to ensure that Kelvin Shivgobin, the bandit who was killed, was not rearrested in the two murder cases in which he was a suspect. It was alleged that the Lance Corporal was paid $1 million to ensure Shivgobin was not rearrested after a 2016 murder case against him was discharged for lack of evidence, while in the case of a Bush Lot double murder, he was paid to make sure that someone else took the fall for the crime. Several ranks told Stabroek News that the Lance Corporal and Corporal received some $800,000 in total to tip off Shivgobin whenever the police received information on his whereabouts. They recounted how the Lance Corporal often boasted that he was “untouchable” as a result of the protection given to him by the senior officer.
As was said in our Comment, the details supplied by these anonymous officers is credible, and once that is acknowledged, the accounts they relayed can only be described as astonishing. While the general perception of citizens is that the GPF is riddled with corruption, and the occasional case of police wrongdoing surfaces into public view now and again, never before have we had these kinds of particulars emanating from within the Force itself. Previously the blue wall always held solid, and the opprobrium of informing on one’s brother (or sister) officers operated to help prevent the truth from emerging. And now, for the first time in recent memory, there is a breach in the wall, and the public at large is being given a chance to glimpse into the inner workings of the seamier side of Berbice law enforcement.
One might have thought that the authorities responsible for security in this land would have reacted to all these revelations with alacrity. After all, the President came to office promising security for the populace on the basis of his background, while Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan was at pains to persuade the public that he was the man for the job. Then there is Police Commissioner Leslie James, who said at a press conference some time ago, “Corruption must be a thing of the past,” going on to remark that no reports of lawmen and women being involved in corrupt practices had reached his desk since he took office. (One feels constrained to comment that they have now.) He also told the media, “Professionalism is necessary at all times. There is an image to maintain within the force and we tell ranks of this… We are fully aware of it but what I can say to you, it will be minimised because we are addressing it in a deliberate manner.” So what have these crusaders against corruption in the Police Force said or done since the information from Berbice surfaced? That is very simply answered: They have said nothing and they have done nothing. As for the deliberate manner in which Commissioner James is addressing this particular manifestation of wrongdoing in his organization, there is absolutely no evidence of that at all.
Perhaps it is not quite true to say that they have done nothing. What we were told by sources was that ranks within the administration of ‘B’ Division were looking for the people who spoke to the media alleging corruption. Senior people in the Division we understood, had identified two ranks on the Corentyne, whom they claimed could have been the source of the stories which we published. Since they had not been contacted to make statements, they had been transferred, we were told. Needless to say, senior officers both within the Division itself as well as in the Force at large remained out of phone contact with this newspaper when we attempted to confirm this. Furthermore, the Lance Corporal mentioned in the reports which we printed, was said to have also been transferred, and was now at the New Amsterdam Police Station.
If this is true, and the Police Force has not issued a denial, then Commissioner James should hang his head in shame, as should his Public Security Minister. Instead of a commitment to an independent investigation, we seem to have the equivalent of a witch-hunt for the whistleblowers. Even if the Commissioner does not know about the transfers, then the least that can be said is that he is not in control of his Force and is not in a position to discharge his duties in the manner in which he should. And if the Public Security Minister, who after all wants to be this country’s next Prime Minister, can’t come to the conclusion that what is needed here is an independent investigation, then he is doing no better than his Commissioner.
Which brings us back to the President. If he wants to make a major move against corruption in the Police Force and at the same time shore up his security reputation, then he needs to authorise an independent investigation; what is very clear in this instance is that the police cannot investigate themselves. If nothing is done then what can this government say to the electorate about enhancing their security by tackling corruption in the GPF? If they do nothing they will advertise their mendacity in the most unambiguous way possible, and they will communicate their intention to maintain the corrupt status quo.
And as for the ranks who spoke to Stabroek News, they were not at all surprised that the Force had had no comment to make about the issue. One of them said: “Is same thing we say. They waiting on it to die down and we going back to the same thing. This is the reason why we don’t talk. We does stay quiet and take it.” This time, however, they did talk, and it now behoves the authorities to seize the unique opportunity which their statements have afforded.
