Recent allegations levelled at members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) point to a level of mental and emotional cruelty that is unfathomable in an organisation with the motto service and protection, even in these disturbing times. This newspaper reported on Sunday that the family of 18-year-old suicide victim Tonika Calder believed that actions by officers following a rape complaint she made at the Cove and John Police Station had driven her to take her own life.
Before the article was published, the journalist writing it contacted Commander of Region Four ‘C’ Khali Pareshram under whose jurisdiction the Cove and Police Station falls, and asked whether the officers in question were being investigated. Mr Pareshram chose to speak only of the rape allegation stating that legal advice had been sought and there would be no prosecution because the complainant had died. He claimed that Ms Calder’s family’s complaint was “primarily” about Facebook posts, citing that these were both in commiseration with and unsympathetic towards the family. Nevertheless, as soon as the article was published, the GPF responded that its Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) had launched an investigation “with particular focus on the conduct and actions of the ranks who received the report and conducted the ensuing investigations”. It seems Mr Pareshram was unaware, or perhaps the investigation was launched only after this newspaper published the article.
Although Ms Calder’s older sister’s complaints are being viewed by the police as allegations at this point, some of what she only mentioned in passing is cause for serious concern. For instance, when the family first sought to have Ms Calder report that she had been raped, they had gone to the Vigilance Police Station, but officers there sent them to Cove and John, indicating such matters needed to be handled there. Why is it in 2021 that officers at Vigilance cannot take a rape report? Or is it the case that they did not want to take it? Hopefully, that too is part of the OPR’s investigation.
Dixie Jordan, Ms Calder’s sister, related to this newspaper that the officer taking the report at Cove and John allegedly asked the complainant to do a “medical” (term used by Ms Jordan), the next day. This boggles the mind, since even rookie officers should be aware that sexual assault forensic exams must be done as early as possible after the alleged assault. During these exams, medical personnel typically use rape kits (usually supplied by the police) to collect critical forensic evidence that can help in identifying a sexual assailant. The evidence collected includes bodily fluids, hair and fibres from clothing. In addition, blood and urine tests are performed to screen for sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy and in some instances, samples of cervical tissue may also be taken and sent to a laboratory for further analysis. If done the next day, particularly after the victim has had a shower, critical evidence could be lost forever.
Days later, after the taxi driver against whom the allegation had been made turned himself over to the police, the teenager was invited back to the Cove and John Police Station. Ms Jordan told this newspaper that she was the first member of her family to make a statement, which was oral, and that she did so in the presence of the taxi driver, who also then made a statement in her presence. How is this even possible? What exactly did the officers at Cove and John think they were doing? Mediating a dispute? Rape is a serious crime. It is indictable. Therefore allegations of rape must be taken seriously. Why did the officers have the complainant’s aunt face off with the alleged rapist? If this is a new standard in policing, then the GPF must let the public know.
That was bad enough, but then it got worse. Ms Jordan reported that she had specifically asked whether the accused would be present when her sister was making her statement, and was told that he would not be in the room. Yet, Ms Calder was forced to give her statement in the presence of the man she was accusing of raping her and further, he was allowed to rebut her statement.
Horrifically, Ms Jordan claimed that the officers then proceeded to interrogate the complainant in a hostile manner, akin to what she might have been faced with from a defence attorney. According to Ms Jordan, they also basically accused her of telling lies and threatened that if she repeated the allegation in court she could be charged for lying. The questioners, Ms Jordan claimed, demanded intimate details from Ms Calder about her activities with her boyfriend. All of this was reportedly done in the presence of the 18-year-old’s mother and the 49-year-old alleged rapist, who was then allowed to claim that he and Ms Calder were in a relationship and she had asked him to have sexual relations with her on the night in question.
There are other allegations as well, which point to the officers at Cove and John not acting from a place of ignorance, but being deliberately dastardly so one hopes the OPR’s investigation will be thorough.
Sadly, the GPF’s record with regard to crimes against women and women in general leaves a lot to be desired. Women police officers have in at least two recent instances referred to sexual harassment in the force as an epidemic, stating that even women who are senior officers do not speak up about it or lend assistance. At the beginning of March this year, 47 police officers were before the courts charged with various offences. In October, two of them were sentenced to 25 years each for a 2018 rape at Turkeyen Police Station and days before that two other officers were charged with a 2000 rape at the Lethem Police Station.
Furthermore, the stories of police officers not taking domestic violence reports seriously and bungling rape investigations are legend. And while the GPF top brass and the Ministry of Home Affairs constantly use the buzzwords “reforms” and “zero tolerance”, it seems like they are always taking a step forward and two backward. There appears to be an unwillingness to really dig out and discard the rot; or perhaps the problem is that it has already gotten too deep.
In this year’s budget the GPF received $15.3 billion much of which was earmarked for the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of police stations, including Providence, Ruimveldt, Cove and John, Albion, Whim, Parika and Wismar. Next year, for obvious reasons, Brickdam and Eve Leary are likely to headline the expenditure. However, things being the way they are, maybe the administration should consider spending more money on upgrading police personnel.
