Dear Editor,

When public condemnation of torture of citizens during interrogation by the security forces ensued recently, I did not say anything. By the time I got to writing something, I thought the point was well made by other writers.

Clearly, I was wrong. There is no limit as to how many of us should speak out against basic rights of civilians.

Today, I add my voice to those (e.g., Mr. C. Bascom and Mr. D. Wiggins) who have rightfully called on the police to exercise regard for the rights of the citizens during police operations. It is recognized that these are complex situations and the police are under pressure to deliver “justice” for the handiwork of the so-called “patriots.” It is a hard request. Hopefully, it is not impossible. I know for sure that during the Lusignan protest, some officers kept the law while others enforced a law of their own.

All of us need to exercise extraordinary caution these days, because these are unusual times. Guyana is at a dangerous crossroad between the past and the future. We must recognize and guard against hoaxes, distortions, rumours, and so forth because the war propaganda by the “enemies within” is mounting.

We should not assume that if people are not being executed, all is quiet on the Guyanese front. On the contrary, these people are working hard to (1) provoke the population to oppose the police and (2) get a then deflated police force to oppose the government.

Two recent examples of attempts to discredit the police force are: first, police officers are being called “house slaves” (or in other words, African servants for “Indian” masters).

This is the brute racism that is being peddled by these “patriots” who, interestingly, complain about racism against Black people.

Secondly, some so-called ballistic “expert” from the US found his way across the Atlantic and on to a local TV station, in order to question the integrity of the ballistics expertise of the local police department.

So, the police and government must be on their guard when dealing with the people. After all, as Mr. Bascom said “Everyone should be afforded the protection of the state; a person is innocent until proven guilty