GUYANA | Adam’s notebook : The police force is all but gone

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, July -17-24 - Something is terribly wrong with the Guyana Police Force. This was once an institution that people respected and feared. The police were men who did not always carry guns. Armed with batons, a whistle and their intellect, in those days, they brought many criminals down.

These were the men who slogged the streets. These were the men who solved crimes by knowing the communities. There is a story of the legendary Thom riding past the La Penitence market. He reportedly saw a known criminal who was wanted for questioning.

He reportedly told the man to report to the Ruimveldt Police Station where he would meet him. The criminal went unescorted.

There was the Corporal Fordyce who jumped into a trench, unarmed, to arrest Edward Lashley who had chopped a policeman, Police Constable Leslie Hannibal on June 22, 1958, to death.

Lashley was eventually hanged and Fordyce of Punt Trench Dam was promoted to Sergeant.

There were other notable police actions. There was the hunt for and subsequent killing of 21-year-old Clement Cuffy. During his run that ended at Naamryck Backdam, West Coast Demerara was under a reign of terror.

Nearly 60 years ago, the 21-year-old, Clement Cuffy, reportedly stole a gun from someone and hid out in the West Demerara Backlands. The entire police force hunted him. Some were shot, allegedly in a crossfire. One was a policeman, Singh, of La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara.

About a decade ago, commenting on that incident, I wrote, “I remember people barricading themselves in their homes at nights, very afraid of this ‘bad man’. It did not matter that they lived more than 20 miles from where the man was supposed to be.

I still remember the police celebration when they caught Clement Cuffy.

“They were in the Public Works trucks heading to the city that night chanting, “We ketch Cuffy”. That was the chant all along West Demerara. Cuffy died on the operating table of what was Dr Wills’s hospital at Leonora.”

Today, despite being presented with evidence of crimes, despite being called to crime scenes, the police are conspicuously absent. I have been reading in messages to the police about a man who has been terrorizing a woman named Alexis for nearly a week.

 Many reports to the police have gone unanswered to the extent that people are now saying that the police will only act when the woman is killed or hospitalised.

There is a man who lives near the Diamond Police Station who is implicit in the stoning the home of his elderly neighbor. Reports to the police are meaningless because the residents say that the man is a friend of the police.

Gone are the days when the friend of the police was the law.

Today, the hierarchy of the Guyana Police Force is embroiled in scandals. One senior policeman was accused of attempting to launder $16.5 million. The staff of the Police Credit Union where he attempted to deposit the money, who refused to accept it were transferred immediately.

The head of the force initially denied the allegation. He did not even investigate that allegation. Instead, there were reports that he had joined with the man to open a quarry, something that was highly irregular for a serving public servant.

The police entered the home of Orin Bascom on the Essequibo Coast and shot him dead in his bed. There were no reports that Bascom was wanted. Instead, the police claimed that he was reaching for a gun. No gun was found.

That matter seems to be in abeyance. I saw a statement from one of the police ranks who was there and witnessed the shooting.

The United States embassy has had to become involved in the operations of the Guyana Police Force to the extent that it revoked visas for prominent policemen, including one as senior as a Police Commissioner.

A party of policemen was on the hunt for Alex Wong, an escaped prisoner, last March. Police Sergeant, Alex Vaughn, was fatally shot by a constable during the search. Nothing is being heard of this.

The Guyana Defence Force, from time to time, has to come out to support the police. It happened during the crime wave of 2002 to 2006 and on subsequent occasions.

This situation may have developed because there is no succession policy in the Guyana Police Force. Young ranks cannot aspire to reach the heights of the force through hard work. It is said that promotions are not made on merit.

Senior officers who are under investigation are being promoted. The junior ranks see this and simply collect their pay without any serious work. 

But for a pay on the side the police could be seen at some locations where they are needed to play a support role. This was visible at Sarah Johanna, East Bank Demerara. A man wanted some homes on what he said was his property, demolished.

But some of the people had been living there for more than three decades.  Some were born there and were raising their children there. The police who never turned up when the people made complaints, turned up in their numbers to ensure the demolition of the properties.

Some even assaulted the homeowners who sought to halt the demolition. The sight of tearful and panicked children meant nothing to those ranks. It was the same at Mocha some time earlier.

A homeowner captured some boys stealing his pups in the La Penitence area. The police refused to respond on the grounds that the children were juveniles. This made no sense. They refused to arrest the boys and to recover the pups.

The nation needs the police whose motto is to serve and protect. Surely the nation is not getting either the service or the protection.

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