If COVID-19 DOESN’T HAVE YOU, THE BANDITS WILL
Kaieteur News – There is hardly a day when there is no report of someone being robbed or, worse still, killed during a robbery. Life has become a lottery in Guyana; if the COVID-19 doesn’t get you, the bandits will.
Citizens are at the mercy of criminals. They are helpless to do anything about it. And the police can’t stop the incidence of crime. It is not surprising to hear that crime has increased even during the pandemic.
The new Home Affairs Minister has yet to detail his anti-crime strategy. But he should know that if you try to do the same things in the same way, the result will be the same.
The fall of all his predecessors is that they believe they could lead to a change in the crime scene in the country. But they never attempted to do so by radical departure in methods.
The general approach that has been adopted, year on year, day by day, is to provide more resources to the police in the hope that they will do a better job.
The police are part of the problem and are unlikely to be part of the solution unless there is a complete overhaul of Guyana Police.
But that’s one cat that no one wants to ring and for that reason, nothing will change.
Guyana Police Force, as it is currently structured, cannot be reformed. It cannot be turned into a professional police force. The whole Force must be dismantled and rebuilt; this will mean a change of more than 80 per cent of existing staff.
Guyana Police has developed an internal culture, which is based on some dysfunctional ideas. One is that the police are too powerful and free to use that power against civilians. The force needs to be held accountable for its performance of its deficit. Unless that happens, the arrogance and ignorance, which characterizes so much police behavior, will not change. Nor will corruption.
The disappearance of firearms seized by the Police should have already been undertaken by a Commission of Inquiry. It is very disturbing that we live in a country where the police intercept illegal firearms and these firearms are undoubtedly going to be in the hands of criminals. These criminals will use these weapons.
The vast majority of Guyanese are law-abiding citizens. They do not break the law. The police have never had a reason to arrest them or suspect them of any criminal wrongdoing. Yet, most of these people are victims of crime and the only reason they have the case to go to a police station is to report being a victim of crime.
But don’t be fooled into believing that only a handful of people commit crimes. Many years ago, a flawed theory made rounds. He claimed Guyana was a criminal state. This is not so. Guyana is a criminal society.
People steal from others at school, at home, on the playground, in farms and even at work. No one is safe anywhere in this country because of the pervasiveness of crime. This is why it is said that if COVID-19 doesn’t get you, the bandwidth certainly will.
The level of crime and the size of the crime mean that it would provide a test for even a very professional police force. This is what makes fighting crime even more difficult. Go to any police station on any day and stick around, if they let you. You will witness all types of petty crime being reported, including neighbor outing. These minor crimes are tiring on the police.
The work of the Minister for Home Affairs has been cut out. It makes no sense for the Minister to seek to reform or improve Guyana Police. This is impractical as it will mean dismissing more than half of the Force.
Crime fighting must involve a new approach. It has to be done at the community level. Community policing is one in which the people of the community, in partnership with the police, take responsibility for protecting their community. This is the only solution to the crime problem facing the country.
The Minister for Home Affairs can buy all the new vehicles that the police want, it won’t make a difference. These vehicles will finish in the scrap yard within a year. The scale of crime is too much. The Guyana Police is simply overwhelmed, corrupt and incompetent. It’s time to privatize policing.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.)