A senior police officer has told the Stabroek Business that the Guyana Police Force is not “particularly happy” over the recent further reduction of the curfew hours since the adjusted policing duties put a greater strain on an “already stretched” Police Force.
“We understand the economic reasons for the adjustments but it adds to what are already the heavy policing responsibilities that we have when you take account of the fact that this is a countrywide responsibility,” the policeman who spoke to the Stabroek Business on condition of anonymity said.
“Some people who says that the police are not doing [enough] in the enforcement of the curfew don’t understand that we cannot enforce with a heavy hand as though we are confronting criminals. There has to be a different approach, not a less serious approach but a different approach,” the police officer said. He added that this type of policing had posed “some challenges” for the Force.
“I don’t mind admitting to you that as a Police Force we do not see ourselves dragging groups of people to a police station and locking them up for not wearing face masks. I understand what you will say about the law having to be enforced but some of the less experienced ranks find the situation challenging.”
Asked about concerns which have been expressed in some sections of the media (including the Stabroek Business) that curfew monitoring patrols sometimes demonstrate an indifference to infractions, the senior officer said that there had been reports made to that effect and that the leadership of the Force had frowned on any such occurrences.
“The functions here are simple. There are the routine law and order oversight functions as well as those functions that enforce the curfew hours, whatever those are. The patrols are not authorized to exercise any discretion here,” he added.
Several persons have commented publicly on what they say is an apparent immunity enjoyed by some places of entertainment in the capital from the curfew restrictions though the officer stated that the Force was not aware that any public place was immune from the curfew restrictions. He added, however, that there had been cases in which patrols had had to disperse groups of revelers who had appeared inclined to go beyond the curfew limits. “After a while you get to know some of the places and events that push the limits, in which cases the patrols have to monitor them for compliance.
The police officer opined that while there had been, for some time, some level of public pushback against the COVID-19 strictures, it was his view that as “the numbers” (of COVID-afflicted persons) had increased people were taking the situation more seriously. “For example, I believe that it is fair to say that greater numbers of people are wearing face masks these days,” he added.
“More policing pressure” is being placed on a Guyana Police Force which is already under pressure in some communities to enforce the COVID-19 restrictions relating to a cut-off point for some types of activities.
While the police source declined to name the communities where delinquency in the matter of observing the strictures poses the greatest challenge he pointed out that it is public knowledge that there is not an equally effective spread of police presence across all communities in the country. “Obviously, in those areas where there is a lower level of police presence, the challenge of properly policing the restrictions will be greater.”
Asked about the need to exercise a level of official flexibility in the application of curfews in order to allow for trading and other forms of economic activity, the police officer who spoke with this newspaper on condition of anonymity said that this was “understandable,” there will always be the problem of not having the resources to enable effective policing of the strictures. “We can’t have it both ways,” he said.
At least one recent article in the Stabroek Business has pointed to what is felt to be the lack of effectiveness of the police in enforcing the strictures arising out of the pandemic, with some critics asserting that the police are part of the problem. The policeman with whom this newspaper spoke retorted, however, that the high level of seeming disregard for the strictures among Guyanese in many communities, particularly those relating to social distancing and the wearing of masks meant that the police had come under “greater pressure than we might have expected” in seeking to enforce the strictures.
This newspaper has published reports of seeming indifference on the part of nocturnal police patrols to curfew infractions including the hosting of public entertainment events that extended beyond the curfew hours. “I will tell you that when those offences occur in small communities in some inner city areas and outside of Georgetown it becomes very difficult to cover all that ground,” he said.
Asked whether he was aware of some level of public comment arising out of accusations that some entertainment establishments enjoy official immunity from the curfew-related strictures, the police officer would only say that he was aware of those allegations but was not in a position to comment on their accuracy or otherwise. Policemen who are part of nocturnal curfew enforcement patrols have confirmed that there are places of entertainment in the capital and in other parts of the country where services continue to be provided discreetly beyond the time lines dictated by the curfew.
