Dear Editor,
I honestly feel that Commissioner of Police (ag), Mr David Ramnarine, means well for the Guyana Police Force if he is given the opportunity to make decisions on his own without political interference. From what I can see he has a very good programme and policies for reform. Once he gets cooperation from the Minister of National Security, the President and all divisional commanders, it would be smooth sailing and will bring back public confidence in the police. The public had lost confidence in the police force during the previous administration because of political interference and micro-management. I am certain that citizens still do not trust certain elements in the force.
This is because when you make a complaint to the station about criminal activities or drugs or other things, this is fed back to the criminals and you became the enemy. Therefore people prefer not to give the police any information and stay silent. For me the law is only for the poor; the rich can do anything and get off because some senior officers are in collusion with some businessmen.
There are still rogue cops in the force who will never change no matter what stringent measures are put in place; the only way to reform the force is to weed out those who are demanding bribes from the hard-working citizens of this country. These rogue elements are bringing shame to the uniform they are wearing; when they go out in the morning to work, their primary aim is to make money. It happened to my son; as he disembarked from his car at Supenaam to catch the speedboat to attend classes at UG, an off-duty policeman from a police station on the Essequibo Coast, told him that he was not wearing his seatbelt and he would charge him. He wasn’t even a traffic policeman; he was an ordinary policeman. My son just had just taken off his seatbelt to enter the speedboat when he approached him and told him to drive back to the station. He was demanding money from my son on the way, and my son told him that he had to attend UG classes and could not afford to be late or lose his session. He then told my son to pay up, after which he allowed him to travel back to Supenaam to attend classes.
On the way he called me and told me what had transpired, and I immediately called the station sergeant and told him what took place. He accosted the policeman and warned him to stop harassing the citizens for money. When he checked the logbook, he found that the policeman was off duty, and told me that he had received several complaints of the same nature against rogue cops. These are the elements which need to be weeded out from the force.
No police force can be successful in solving crimes without the help of the public. Mr Ramnarine knows that, and therefore all stakeholders need to help fight crimes along with the Guyana Police Force. I also wish to congratulate the acting Commissioner on his stance on corruption in the force. He made history after the 2011 general and regional elections when he had openly contradicted the former Minister of Home Affairs, saying that he had not received the money budgeted for meals for the police on election day. His statements seemed to offend the Minister who said he had lost confidence in him.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
