Dear Editor,
After the recent outrage and a few letters over police vehicles being bilingual (English/Spanish) I can hardly believe the explanation given by the Police in their subsequent release under the headline ”Police patrol vehicles to have English and Spanish writing.”
Editor, I fail to comprehend how this will help in creating a more broad-based and efficient professional policing service and build partnerships among local and foreign nationals.
To begin with, Spanish speaking nationals are a small minority among all other nationals (English and non-English) so this makes no sense.
I was further confused by the rest of the release which went on to explain that it also is in keeping with the Guyana Police Force’s comprehensive Strategic Plan (2022-2026) to be inclusive and build partnerships as the GPF forges ahead to be a modern law-enforcement orginisation. (Perhaps the GPF needs to make this plan public for greater clarity on its decision)
How on earth do we achieve greater inclusiveness by adding ‘Policia’ while leaving all other foreign speaking people out. Our Brazilian neighbours for example who speak Portuguese and who have been among us for a few decades were never given this honour nor were the Chinese or other nationals.
In Florida, where there is a much greater density of Hispanics, I have never seen one police vehicle, or in Europe for that matter which adapts the bilingual approach. Also, it’s an insult to assume that those who speak Spanish cannot differentiate a police vehicle from a civilian one unless it is identified in their language.
Nothing prepares you for Guyana. We go from one extreme to another, yet we never properly address the issues which are most critical to the development and safety of our dear land.
Perhaps some Road Safety slogans would have worked better at this time, but then again it may embarrass the police.
Sincerely,
B.A. Ramsay
