Dear Editor,
The media has fired quite a few salvos at Clement Rohee for his “kicking ass” expression regarding members of the Guyana Police Force. I agree totally with the media and with the senior officers of the Force for taking umbrage; the Minister’s choice of language was found wanting. But that is where the agreement stops.
I want to ask the media and those brave and professional senior police officers whether the Minister, and indeed the whole of Guyana, should not be dissatisfied with the performance of the Guyana Police Force. Many in the Guyana Police Force are shirkers and bribe-takers. In fact, the bribery of police officers is hardly seen as an offence any longer; it is an expectation – the silent imperative.
I would have expected the media to do their convenient random public survey as to whether the disgust expressed by the Minister was misplaced. Let the media do a public opinion poll on the Guyana Police Force. The result will be that the public thinks the nation’s primary law-enforcement body has many corrupt officers bent on getting a raise in every matter they handle.
But the media would not conduct a public opinion poll because the operatives and owners are scared – scared of the same people who should be protecting us all.
Let the bold media houses deny our cry against police bribery and corruption. Our Police Force is an embarrassment. The Minister of Home Affairs receives hundreds of complaints against members of the Force.
The Commissioner of Police and his upstanding officers have not responded to the Minister regarding these complaints. What does the Minister tell the complaining public? Give Jack his jacket. Minister Rohee has defended the Force on innumerable occasions, even against his conscience. Can he or must he do so all the time?
Dozens of unsolved murders, hundreds of unsolved robberies, thousands of uninvestigated reports, thousands of cases falling through because of poor or incompetent police investigations and statement taking; dozens of robberies in which the police are directly involved; and sexual offences.
If there is any guilty party in this whole fiasco, it is the Police Force. So, senior police officers have to display their professionalism by cleaning up their house.
Yours faithfully,
Godfrey Skeete
