Dear Editor,
Reality furnishes ample evidence that rampaging crime batters citizens relentlessly. It bodes ill for this society that worse white-collar crime soars from within government quarters, leaving Guyanese in a frightening vise. This is where I take things today, while using runaway crime as the cornerstone for concerns that I hope never materialize.
It is a given, from perceptions and confirmations that crime is out of control. I dispose of that quickly, statistics notwithstanding. They do not reassure; not with real and potential bandits roaming at will and all hours on 2- and 4-wheelers; not with dangers feared everywhere. Today, there are intensifying fears of law enforcement, plus the criminal visions of political leaders (rackets). Uniforms, nicknames, and acronyms may be different; but, same harrowing agendas, results. Citizens are hostages, alarmed how brazen criminals make killings, including literally. The biggest indicator of rampant crime is the silence index/statistic. No seeing, no hearing, no knowing. Self-preservation reigns; no trust for police; especially when it is checked from checking out connected, but let loose on little fish.
The police have little going for it, is too often suspected to be part of criminal schemes; too often a political instrument. That is the mindset of many Guyanese (mine), with another being that skilled police public relations releases and statistics are to bolster with a false sense of security. Here is one worthy of the best soca writer/singer: anybody know any PR pro who ain nuthin but a teaser… Or tell the whole truth…
I am alarmed about all this, and bigger things, too. First, when smarter, stronger, and more visionary men look at low-level, run-of-the-mill criminal situations, the police’s position, and the government’s own questionable operations, those criminally minded operators can move crime several rungs up (or down) the ladder. In essence, the haunting specter at which this country stares at is: crime deterioration to the point where powerful criminal gangs reign supreme, operate at will (I tender Main Street execution). They carve up the country into criminal fiefdoms which they control, with neither government nor the law in any strong position to upend them, or challenge them comprehensively and conclusively. I would contend that what we face in the not-too-distant future are circumstances similar to Mexico and Venezuela; sometimes, I am inclined to include Trinidad. Still, I assert that this may already be so in Guyana’s hinterlands, where gang law prevails, and security is another named for a ransomed existence. Other countries have only shades of this presently, due to greater visibility, tighter confines, political determination to soothe foreigners about safety and stability.
I revisit Mexico, which is a special case. Heavily armed money cartels have infiltrated and compromised many of that troubled, wounded State’s protective layers, institutions, programs, and influential people. I discern some of that here already. This is not good for Guyana, as this could unleash the worst, with crime-plagued and vulnerable citizens caught in the middle all over. Present crime ranges could transform into killing fields.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall