Four months to the day since Dartmouth businessman Orin Boston was fatally shot in his bed by a member of the SWAT squad, the police were finally advised to charge the shooter with manslaughter. In what seemed like an open and shut case, the police dragged out proceedings interminably, possibly in the far-fetched notion that the public might grow weary and the case would slip under the radar. Not so. The brutishness of the assault was indelibly etched in the eye of the public.
As had been recounted in our editorial of September 19, 2021, Mr Boston was lying in his bed around 4 am on September 14 when a SWAT team kicked down the back door of his home, burst into the bedroom and shot him. Initial reports said he was shot in the arm, but according to the post-mortem results he was shot once in the chest. The police account of events was that ranks had been conducting an anti-crime operation in Region Two and that they had gone to Mr Boston’s house to conduct a search. During the process there had been a “confrontation” between him and the police which had resulted in him being shot.
Mr Boston’s widow, Feona, did not endorse this version; she said her husband had showered and retired to bed, and that he did not even have clothes on when the police went into the room, and pointed the gun at him. She also said that the members of the team were all over the house with guns, and her two children aged six and seven witnessed the entire ordeal. The bloodied bedsheet, which the police took away subsequently, supplies verification, if any were needed, that he was indeed shot in bed, and not in the course of any confrontation.
The kick-down-the-door technique and the employment of the specialised SWAT team would usually denote some urgent and dangerous mission – the interception of terrorists about to create mayhem for instance. There was no evidence of that at all in the household of the Boston family when their door was broken down in the wee hours. The attack on the Boston family appeared to be the work of an unsupervised, out-of-control squad and therein lies a serious problem for the public and one that the Guyana Police Force and the government must address.
Earlier that morning, another Orin, Orin Klass in the village of Onderneeming faced a similar jeopardy. His door was also kicked in by the same SWAT squad. He had related to Stabroek News that during the search, his 21-year-old stepson was arrested. Mr Klass said police told him that his stepson was wanted for questioning concerning a robbery/murder.
“If they had told me that they wanted my son then fine he would have gone or a police from Region Two could have come peacefully,” Mr Klass had told this newspaper, adding that when the ranks kicked down his door his children woke up and were screaming.
These operations by the SWAT team on September 14 must be condemned in the strongest terms having resulted in the unjustified killing of Mr Boston and the terrorising of the Klass family.
The alleged shooter has now appeared in court and a preliminary inquiry will be held prior to a decision on whether to commit to a High Court trial. What will now transpire in court does not relieve the police force and the government from their obligation to provide details to the public on what occurred on September 14 and to convey assurances that such reckless conduct will not continue.
In earlier incarnations, PPP/C governments have had the most unsavoury track record as it relates to excesses of police units and other specialised intelligence gathering and enforcement outfits, the Target Special Squad being only one of those. The police and the government must ensure that this SWAT unit conducts itself in a professional manner and that any transgressors are immediately removed and disciplined.
The Police Commissioner (ag), Mr Hoppie and the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Benn must provide answers to the public on the following questions:
-Was the SWAT squad on a properly authorised mission on the morning of September 14th?
-If so, what was the purpose of the mission?
-Was there a review of the command and conduct of the SWAT squad on September 14 and what were its findings?
-What steps have been taken to ensure that there is no recurrence?
-Have Standard Operating Procedures been devised for the SWAT unit?
The fatal shooting of Mr Boston is yet another crisis for policing that must yield change in the way that the force conducts itself. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that these changes are made and it underlines again the need for root and branch reform of the police force which has been on the agenda for decades but is yet to see the light of day.
