Acting Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken yesterday said he was unaware that ranks from the force had trailed Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on Monday.
After leaving the Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara home of Quindon Bacchus, who was fatally shot by a policeman last Friday, Norton’s car was trailed by two cops on motorbikes. He later stopped his vehicle and confronted them at which point they said they were simply “following instructions”.
The act by the policemen will raise serious questions about surveillance of political figures like Norton.
Speaking to Stabroek News last night, Hicken said that he will have to enquire from the Divisional Commander, Khali Pareshram what had transpired.
“I don’t know anything like that… Why would the police want to trail Mr Norton?” Hicken responded when asked about the incident. Hicken promised to reach out to the commander and provide a clearer response today.
Meanwhile, Pareshram when contacted by this newspaper yesterday also seemed taken aback by what had transpired.
He said that he was “not aware” of what occurred after Norton left the family’s home nor was he aware of any complaints about the issue.
Norton on Monday stopped his vehicle on the way down from Golden Grove and questioned the reason for the policemen following him.
In a video posted on Facebook on Monday, Norton was seen being followed by two masked ranks on motorcycles. The incident occurred sometime after 12 pm.
When Norton stopped his vehicle and confronted the ranks, they informed him they were only following orders.
“Do you have the right to just drive behind me?” Norton asked and was told “Sir, Sir we are just following instructions,” by one of the ranks.
On this note, Norton said it was illegal for them to follow him when he hadn’t committed a crime.
“It is out of place for y’all to be driving behind people who did not commit (a) crime…You know you are violating my rights and you don’t have the right to do it because somebody tell you it was right to violate me,” the PNCR Leader and Member of Parliament informed the ranks during a brief interaction.
At his press conference yesterday, the Opposition Leader stated that it was not only the two cops that followed him but as he was leaving Golden Grove he observed a police vehicle also trailing him.
“What happened when I left we saw a police vehicle and two motorbikes tracing us. When I saw that I stopped and they stopped. I came out and went to the police in the vehicle and I said to them why are you tracing me. If I stop, you stop. If I move, you move. I am not violating the law, I am a law-abiding citizen. Why are you following me?” Norton recalled.
He stated that his questions to the officer in the vehicle were unanswered and moments later the vehicle turned back.
However, Norton explained that as he returned to his vehicle and drove off, he recognized the policemen on the motorcycles following him.
In the vicinity of Coldingen, East Coast Demerara he decided to turn in a bid to assess if the ranks were indeed following him.
“And so I turn by Coldingen there and here it was the police again so I stopped and went to the police and said to them why are you following me?” he stated.
Norton stressed that from the response he got from the ranks, it appears as if it was a decision from the hierarchy of the force. He stated that the officers kept riding behind him until he got home.
The Opposition Leader stated that while he might write the Guyana Police Force on the matter, he is not certain whether he will receive any sort of satisfaction.
When asked if he held the view that the policemen were providing security to him, he responded in the negative. He stressed that if it was a case of providing security, it would have been offered to him all the time and not just yesterday.
“I think it is a case of them misusing their authority. As the young men (ranks) said, I know they must be blazing them in there, they were following instructions. So it can’t be a case of [security], first of all how would they know I was going home?” Norton asked.
The Guyana Police Force has been blistered on social media over the incident.
