Peeping Tom

Who will police the police?

I recall years ago when a friend of mine had too much to drink. On his way home in his car he was pulled over by a traffic cop who, recognising his intoxicated state, invited him to the station, not to charge him but to have him park his vehicle until the next day when he sobered up.

My friend did as he as advised, thankful at the time that there were cops who wanted to ensure public safety and were not finger-happy to dole out traffic tickets and charges at the slightest infraction. I suppose there are still these types of lawmen around who understand both the spirit and the letter of the law.

On that night when my friend was pulled over, he did not have to worry about his vehicle. He knew that the safest place it could be was in a police compound.

Even when crime began to rise in the late seventies and early eighties, many persons would arrange to have their vehicles parked near to a police station, knowing fully well that no thief would risk trying to vandalise a vehicle parked in the vicinity of a police station.

Not any more! A few days ago, there was an amazing story published in this newspaper where the police was able to locate a hijacked vehicle, only to have it stolen right under their noses while it was parked in front of the police station.

What is even more troubling are the cases that arise from time to time involving alleged wrongdoing by the police themselves. I recall this one time when there was a report about a senior officer of the force who needed a part for his vehicle and was later accused of actually encouraging another rank to arrange for that part to be stolen from another vehicle.

Gone are the days when citizens did not have to worry about their vehicles being detained by the police. Many persons have in recent years been complaining that they have returned to uplift their vehicle only to find parts missing. In any society, this is something that would be extremely worrying.

In yesterday's newspaper we read about an ongoing investigation in which a rank was said to have been caught in the act of stealing fuel from a vehicle. Not long ago, we had read about another such incident in which fuel was being stolen from the police. And these reports cast a bad image on the Guyana Police Force.

I am shocked that the government can claim that they are not interested in extraditing Roger Khan back to Guyana because there is no case against him. So why were the Joint Services tumbling up the homes of citizens, invading the privacy in early morning cordon and search operations against persons believed to have been connected with Khan?

I have said before that we need to ensure that there is greater civilian oversight over coercive institutions of the State. When we have state institutions that can exercise the legitimate use of force, wherever we find situations where coercive arms of the State have powers to restrict the liberty of subjects, it is absolutely necessary that safeguards be put in place to ensure that these powers are not abused.

I have seen a very disturbing report in the newspaper about a man who claimed that he was pulled over by the police and his documents seized by a policeman who asked that he go to the station. He went but the police never turned up. He still does not know when his documents will be returned.

I recall a few years ago a senior officer of the Guyana Police Force saying that traffic officers have no right to seize your documents when they stop you, but I can understand why a cop would want to hold your document so as to ensure that you turn up to the station to be charged. However, what happens when you turn up and the cop cannot be located with your documents?

What should happen is that we ought to have a Police Complaints Authority and an Internal Affairs Division that have teeth and are totally independent of the police. These bodies should have the power to summon police ranks and to investigate complaints received. Unless these bodies have powers to carry out their own investigations uninhibited, we will continue to have the sort of embarrassing incidents such as those mentioned above that give the force a bad name.

The Peeper has always said that all that is required is some simple changes to the way the Disciplined Services are managed. Once these services recognise that they will be held accountable for their performance and conduct, they will put themselves in order and the level of professionalism within the army and the police will rise.

Ramotar is another 'asshole' 

I just read the statements to the General Secretary of the People's Progressive Party, Donald Ramotar at a press briefing yesterday. I was specifically interested in his statements about the performance of the police in solving crimes. He has been in recent days critical of both the police and the army, going so far as to say that the army was holidaying in Buxton.

I am glad he is concerned. I look forward to the reaction come this year end when President Bharrat Jagdeo, as he has done for the past three years, doles out another massive Christmas bonus to the police and the army.

Thursday June 29, 2005