Dear Editor,
It makes one cringe to see police derelicting their duties in a society where their services are very important. Although this is a major concern of citizens, the police’s efforts and successes in solving crimes are being noted. Let us hope that some of these are not due to coerced confessions and police brutality. Juxtaposed with this is the increasing incidences of rape by the police and senseless and unnerving effects of killings of suspects and criminals. The majority of citizens want to be supportive of the police and expect that support to be reciprocal. The responsibility is moreso on the police than on the citizenry. However, citizens’ role should not be downplayed.
We view police as the initial enforcers of justice in the structure of the system of law and order. With our low numbers of these enforcers in respect to our population and our prevalence of crime, it is bewildering to see police on motorcycles who should be assigned to preventing and solving crimes, stopping motorists who in some cases have not even breached traffic laws. This is occurring downtown and in other locations in Georgetown, while serious breaches are occurring on the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara and in more remote areas, even resulting in vehicular homicide. Prosecutorial inefficiency and ineffectiveness also needs to be addressed.
Hopefully, the Executive and Judicial branches of our society are embarrassed and motivated (as they need to be) to treat this stain on the police and the government with the severity that it deserves. Let there be justification of our high regard for the police force as a beacon of rectitude. Surely, superior officers among the police have noticed these motorcycle subordinates deviating from their duties. This displays an absence of authority and lack of efficiency even within the police force. We cannot afford this unravelling. Mayhem will be the result.
Sincerely,
Conrad Barrow
