Dear Editor,
Sometime in February/March of this year, I think, I received two messages from someone that a policewoman wanted to see me. I treated it lightly and promised to stop by whenever I’m passing – I never remembered. Then on Wednesday June 8, I received a telephone call from a female person at the McKenzie Police Station who identified herself, stated her rank ‒ Sergeant ‒ very politely, I must say. She informed me that she is the officer heading the complaints section, and reminded me of a letter I wrote on December 9, 2015 that was published in the Stabroek News – ‘Linden policeman creating noise nuisance’ ‒ and told me she needed a statement with regard to that letter. I was baffled; why a statement? As a citizen I wrote about my observation in a national paper. Anyway she called back the following day and requested – though she seemed determined – that I drop in and give her a statement. I agreed and did so later in the day.
In this letter that was written some 6 months ago I had referred to two items in the Stabroek News of November 27, 2015, the first of which mentioned a policeman who allegedly struck a civilian in the head with a beer bottle blacking him out; and the other relating the story of a young Skeldon Estate worker who was allegedly relieved of his money and possessions by a policeman who accused him of break and enter. I made mention of personalities in the police force and endorsed what Barrington Braithwaite wrote about the “disturbed personalities and troubled background of some police groups” and that the system had “captured troubled unbalanced personalities and created soulless beings out of them.” I further questioned the modus operandi of recruitment.
As for the main topic of the letter, I spoke about the damning behaviour of an indisciplined policeman who was in the habit of driving around town with a powerful sound system in his vehicle blasting to the heavens, the speakers placed both sides of the window. No matter where he goes – hospital, school, clinic, library, funeral ‒ the sound remains in the deafening range; he even drives into the police compound the same way. I criticised this behaviour and questioned his status since he cares not a toss and no one in authority seemed bothered about him. This is what I thought the police sergeant as the head of the complaints department who called me was interested in – clarity, with an eye in future to arresting such malpractice committed moreso by an officer of the GPF.
But I was mistaken; it was, as I saw it, a hoax. After typing in her heading, subject matter and whatever into her computer, she then asked me something about my name having an e. I responded that is it written just as it is in the letter, so she quickly consulted a file on her desk that had the letter and other papers clipped together, and got the correct spelling. Then she asked about my race ‒ “You not mixed or anything?” I responded; “As you see me”, and instantly for a moment she had me going but for some reason I let it go, but became very apprehensive, as she followed through on my age. Without going any further I realised that my presence at the station had absolutely nothing to do with some unruly, indisciplined cop, but rather detailed information on me. Where is the nexus between specifics on me and an article on noise nuisance? Yes, I have written a number of times about the conduct of some members of the GPF, and I have written time and time again about hazardous blind turns that need attention; humps across roads that need highlighting; about having a few humps placed along Sir David Rose Ave, which has been converted into a race course; about placing traffic signs where needed; about the increasingly young, reckless, dangerous, inexperienced drivers, who should be constantly monitored; and about those frighteningly massive lumber trucks that continue to ply the highway without the required complement of lights/reflectors/indicators at night. All this and more to no avail, simply because these are the least of their problems. As one traffic cop once said to me, “Dah is nah me wuk”. Why then this obnoxious interest in someone who has drawn attention to these things? Why investigate the complainer instead of the complaint? Of course I pointed this out to her but didn’t remember to respond to her question on the phone asking me how I could be sure the noise nuisance offender was a policeman! Yet in the cloister of my mind I think I know. I have been in town too long not to figure this scenario out, and one cannot completely avoid a sense of foreboding when all is said and done, and that is troubling. What a strange coincidence for me upon realising that I penned this letter on June 13, the death anniversary of Walter Rodney.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
