Dear Editor,
Prior to penning your editorial captioned, ‘Do the police shoot to kill?’ it would have been prudent to do some research on the regulations governing the use of force by law enforcement officers the world over. What you would have discovered, is that law enforcement officers are not trained, instructed or advised to shoot to wound when they are compelled to resort to deadly force in order to neutralize a suspect. In the case of Guyana specifically, they are trained to aim at the largest portion of the body, which is the area of the torso. Although this might appear strange, the general idea is to reduce the risk of innocent bystanders being injured or killed, and stopping the suspect within a minimum of discharges.
This constant occupation with whether the police in Guyana should shoot to wound or shoot to kill, in the examination of the use of deadly force in Guyana, prohibits examination of profound violations of the use of deadly force by some law enforcement officials. What makes the current media examinations appear more symbolic rather than substantive efforts to bring illumination to this issue, is the fact that most of the questions posited in the examinations can be answered by the press simply going to the Chambers of the Attorney General, and requesting a copy of the Police Act. The section governing the use of force by members of the force unambiguously places severe limits on the use of deadly force. And many of the incidents recounted in your editorial are in clear violation of what is set out under that section.
It is ludicrous to castigate a member of the force for not shooting to wound, rather than to kill, when he or she is compelled to use deadly force as a means of apprehending a suspect, preventing the commission of a crime, or preventing the escape of a prisoner, among other things. They are doing what they are trained and instructed to do. What is necessary, rational, and ethically obligatory for the press and civil society to demand from the civilian and police leadership of the force however, is that they judiciously scrutinize the use of all deadly force through a non-partisan agency like a civilian review board, in order to ensure that police killings of suspects occur after they had exhausted all other reasonable efforts at apprehension. That is what the law and regulations require.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Williams
