Dear Editor,
Under the headline, ‘Broomes raps Bartica police over call for help’, (SN: 10/09/19), the Stabroek News reported and, I quote, “I heard this woman screaming for help in a different tone and language. She is screaming for help in Portuguese or Spanish and immediately I picked up the phone and called the police. I said `Officer good morning, my name is Simona Broomes, and I am the minister within [the Ministry of the Presidency]. I would like to report somebody is screaming for help just outside of my house in the bush in the West Indian Housing Scheme’.” The minister made the comments in a Facebook Live post where she expressed her dissatisfaction at the police in that constituency.
Maybe the honourable minister was surprised that being a minister, the police of the Bartica Police Station did not respond promptly, but being an ordinary citizen, this happens to us all the time, irrespective of the nature or seriousness of our report. At most of these stations, be reports made by telephone or in person, the majority of us for a long, long time, are dissatisfied with the police response time.
One would have thought that with the amount of vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and the many boats the government has made available to the police force, there would have been a major improvement in this area. Those of us who are old enough would know that not so long ago, in the Essequibo Coast or ‘G’ Division, the four police stations including the traffic department had only about three vehicles in total.
Currently, all the police stations have a vehicle and the CID and traffic department have their own as does the commander. So the issue is no longer transportation. It may very well be neglecting of duties by the ranks, both senior and junior.
In Mr Freddie Kissoon’s column headlined, ‘Police rank abuses Business Minister’ (KN: 14/09/19), it is stated that, ‘The police rank who abused the Minister of Business on the ferry last week will probably be severely chastised or even suspended, because he was hostile to a minister of government. But think of how many times in each day of each year, police ranks have harassed and mistreated the ordinary citizens of this country.’
Here again, Minister of Business Haimraj Rajkumar would be surprised, but should he be?
Abusing of any individual by any person is unacceptable. I hope that the appropriate action has already been taken.
Regarding the amount of noise nuisance complaints made to the police, be it to those on patrol or at the police station, whether by telephone or in person, should you do an investigation, you would be unpleasantly surprised about the inaction of the ranks, and I mean officers to constables. This situation has now reached to a level that residents do not make reports of noise nuisance any more.
There was a time when any act of neglect of duty, absence from duty, late for duty or any form of indiscipline used to be investigated urgently, and a form A-30 Charge Sheet served on the rank or ranks in question, and, if found guilty, departmentally, the rank would suffer the consequences of his or her action or inaction. For example, from three to as much as 14 days’ pay would be deducted along with as much as five to 14 days C/B (Confine to Barracks) with drills. Of course, those were the days when discipline was the watchword in the Guyana Police Force and other military and paramilitary forces. I am not sure if it is the same now.
While I would conclude by saying that what happened to our honourable ministers or the experience they had is most unfortunate, and must be condemned by those in authority and all Guyanese using strong language, the man in the street or the ordinary citizen may also see it as a blessing in disguise.
Yours faithfully,
Archie W. Cordis
Former AFC Councillor
Region #2
