Dear Editor,
A staggering sum of $74.5m has been made available by the government to purchase high-powered vehicles for the police (Stabroek News, March 4, 2012). The claim is that the police will now be able to tear themselves from their desk and rush out in their new, flashy petrol guzzlers to go and protect the public.
With the streets of the capital being inundated with traffic at an alarming rate, such a claim is highly suspect. In particular, this demonstrates a total disregard for public safety by recycled politicians, who are failing and well past their sell-by date. There is a desperate need for the police to be properly trained in all aspects of policing and security, including respect for human rights.
Taxpayers cannot afford the luxury of expensive vehicles, roaming the streets in untrained hands and accompanied by the probability of much road more accidents and deaths.
A great opportunity was missed when the UK had offered a grant to invest in human capital and to produce well-trained personnel who are fully committed to their duties to protect the public.
The politicians decided to reject the UK funding because it was supposedly trampling on sovereignty.
The offer was withdrawn and the politicians are now free to let loose untrained people in high- powered vehicles that can only be regarded as dangerous and a threat to public safety. In addition, the police force is unable to demonstrate that they are capable of earning public respect.
Senior police officers; devoid of integrity and credibility, are determined to remain in posts, while under serious allegations of committing criminal acts, including rape and the burning of the genitals of a boy while in police custody.
At the same time the politicians are doing little to show commitment to public safety. By their very failure to act, they become complicit and leaving communities exposed to grave risks and danger to life and limb. There is also the problem of corruption that is leading to social breakdown and fragmented communities.
Politics has become a matter of how much the public purse can be looted for personal gains, and social responsibilities are left for the hard-pressed magistrates’ court to handle. Starved of proper funding and with poor infrastructure, welfare and probation services are thin and severely stretched. Our deprived communities are the ones being hit the hardest with many turning to drugs.
With no effective safety net to rescue them, and with the politicians only committed to building useless white elephants, the future is looking even bleaker.
Yours faithfully,
Mac Mahase
