Britain’s colonial police were based on the model of the Royal Irish Constabulary

Dear Editor,

We read with interest Dr Ian McDonald’s piece in Stabroek News, Sunday, August 31, 2014, entitled ‘Principles of good policing.’ There Dr McDonald claims that “The father of policing in Britain, and therefore of policing in Britain’s colonies, was Sir Robert Peel.” He then went on to suggest that Sir Robert was responsible for the organisation of the London Metropolitan Police, 1829, and while its early formation was greeted with cries of “tyranny” it soon “found general acceptance” on account of its “contribution to public peace.”

The story may not be as Dr McDonald proffers. It is certainly true that Sir Robert was instrumental in the establishment of the London Metropolitan Police. It is also true that the latter was to find “general acceptance” in the United Kingdom based on its ethic of responsibility and professionalism and came to acquire the sobriquet “Serve and Protect.” Not so for “policing in Britain’s colonies.” That was another matter. Most historians/theorists (Mars, Campbell, Arnold) agree that Britain’s colonial police and policing was based on the model of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) 1836, a hierarchically organised, centrally commanded para military force intended to discipline and punish a restive native population that did not always take kindly to conquest, the civilising mission or the “obvious” benefits of modernity.

A cursory review of our own history would show that the RIC model was introduced in Guyana in 1891 and has remained the essential MO of the force ever since. A recent incident between the residents of No 47/48 Villages and some officers of the No 51 Police Station is exemplary of the historic practices. When residents of the communities complained of police complicity in some local criminality the matter was easily resolved – the “identified” police officers were transferred and residents sent home. No duty or obligation to community (serve and protect?). No rights or entitlement of citizenship. No need for either inquiry or investigation. The high command did what comes to it naturally – protect its own. It should not, therefore, come as a surprise that most residents see the police as a force of occupation in their communities – their duties and obligations residing elsewhere.

We will have to leave Dr McDonald’s nine-point programme of dedicated and committed policing for another occasion. At the moment there does not appear to be any such agenda on the horizon.

 

Yours faithfully,
Rishee Thakur