Dear Editor,
“Boots on the Ground” is an effective and proven crime fighting strategy. However, at the Police Officers’ Annual Conference 2022 this topic was discussed. Some senior police personnel and movers and shakers of the GPF felt that it would become obsolete and be replaced with their ‘Safe City’ apparatus. I totally disagree. That is why a few weeks ago I was pleased to see so many police boots of various sizes and high quality pounding the beat at the Stabroek Market Square. Yes. Region 4 A, Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Simeon McBean and a team of officers, inspectors and subordinate officers together with senior members of the City Constabulary paid a site visit to the Stabroek Market Square. The police pledged to use their scarce human and other resources to work along with members of the City Constabulary to reduce crime and the fear of crime in that area and other parts of the City.
According to reports, the intention of the visit was to inspect the area in an effort to develop strategies and tactics to quell the alarming lawlessness that was taking place at that location. It was so refreshing to note that the police deviated from the normal bird’s-eye view of things that lets you see everything from above, from the sky and assumed a worm’s-eye view of the issues and concerns, trying to find whatever comes right in front of you – see it, feel it, hear it, smell it, taste it, touch it and see if you can do anything about it.
Some persons opined that the visit was a knee-jerk reaction to a Travel Advisory issued by the United States of America Embassy in Guyana on March 22, 2022. The Embassy warned its citizens to reconsider travel to Guyana due to crime and Covid-19. The Embassy advised the Americans to avoid visiting the Stabroek and Bourda Markets and elsewhere because in their opinion the local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents. The Minister of Home Affairs in a statement after the visit by Commander Mc Bean and team stated that the course of action was planned since November 2021. This is strange, as from November 15, 2021 to January 15, 2022 the police executed their annual “Christmas Patrols” which is intended to reduce crime in the city and countrywide. Members of the GPF who normally perform clerical and other office duties were relieved from such tasks and detailed to perform “Christmas Patrols.” Therefore, the police had a massive number of human and other resources available then to tackle the situation at the Bourda and Stabroek Market Square during the “Christmas Policing.”
Under the astute leadership of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Simeon McBean the police conceptualised and implemented a series of proactive activities to bring back sanity to the area. The measures include, intelligence-gathering operations, intelligence-led policing, static, roving and high visibility patrols – Boots on the Ground. The Georgetown Mayor and City Council also conducted some amount of ‘ cleaning operations.’ Better late than never. Green shoots are already emerging. They will be fruitful.
I have the greatest confidence in Commander McBean’s policing ability to get things done efficiently and effectively. I know him well. I recruited and trained him at the Felix Austin Police College ‘B’ Division during 1992 when I was the Commandant of that training institution. He will always remember his, “Interview for Selection” with me. Since then I posited that he was Commissioner’s material. I still hold the same view. However, his fight to get to the apex of Management in the GPF was temporarily abbreviated. In a self-development effort he applied and won a British scholarship. He successfully pursued a Masters of Science in Global Security and Policing in the United Kingdom. For his effort, certain politicians influenced the Police Service Commission to dismiss McBean without giving him the right to be heard. He appealed to the Court which overturned the unlawful dismissal of the Police Service Commission. He was reinstated. He is an island of excellence in a sea of mediocrity.
The operations of the police at Bourda Market and Stabroek Market Square will develop into a real success story. It must be sustained and replicated at other hot spots in the division and other police regional divisions across the country.
Yours respectfully,
Clinton Conway
Assistant Commissioner of Police
(Retired)
