Crime and response

Under fire

The police are once again under fire. This time, in the wake of a raid they conducted in Agricola to thwart a robbery being plotted. As one critic, APNU’s Mark Archer conceded, this had to be the result of good intelligence. When the police got to the scene, there were conflicting reports about what happened. The police claimed they came under fire and responded, killing one young man and wounding another.
They recovered one revolver at the scene. Then the opposition politicians jumped right in. AFC’s Nigel Hughes claimed that he has a witness who contradicted the police’s version of the fatal encounter. Brickbats and worse followed. AFC cried “Execution!!!” Demands were made for the police to be charged with murder.
But once again we ask, what happened to the rule of law? Why must there be all this agitation when the police authority, the police watchdog has already launched an independent investigation? What do we gain by raising the temperature of every police encounter? While we will condemn every wrongful action of the police – and we readily accept that the police needs further professionalisation – can we not at least take cognisance of the environment in which our police has to operate?
Just recently, we saw a young, idealistic and professional police officer executed while on duty. In Guyana, the police are not fighting crimes that amount to just stealing from fowl pens. We appreciate that they have to act within the law and within their standard operating procedures. While never condoning police excesses we must consider the circumstances under which the claimed excess occurred.
Agricola has in the past decade earned an unenviable reputation for violent crimes. Wasn’t this where, David Barrow, also called `Gurple’, was beheaded and his 17-year- old girlfriend Shamika Boyce, known as `Girlie’ and Yankee were also killed in one incident? How many other robberies and kidnappings were committed there?
Commemorating the fifth anniversary of the gruesome slaying of five of their pressmen, the Muckraker wrote: “Soon enough a number of persons from the Agricola community were arrested and their ages were a shock to almost everyone. One of the alleged killers was no more than 13 years old, while none of them was above 18. What struck me was the fact that the 13-year-old, of all the accused, showed absolutely no remorse.” Let’s consider the effects of such an environment on even the most professional police force.

Kvetching
The verb ‘to kvetch’ is a Yiddish word meaning ‘to bitch and moan and whine and whinge constantly’. It’s the only word that describes the opposition’s position on the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Linden killings. It doesn’t look like they’ll be stopping with the kvetching any time soon, so we’d better get used to the word.
One suggested response is to roll your eyes heavenwards, raise your upturned palms shoulder high and sigh deeply, “Oi vey!!’ Another response could be to vow, “Out with these bums at the next elections!”
First they demanded the CoI. Before they’d even finished the sentence, the president said, “OK.” Then they demanded the CoI be composed entirely of foreign nationals. No Guyanese was independent enough for them. Finally when APNU accepted the present composition of three eminent Caricom legal luminaries with an equal complement of locals, AFC balked.
Then APNU’s force-ripe strongman kvetched that the CoI sit in Linden. For once he was ignored. Now comes APNU kvetching that the two legal ‘go-fors’ assigned to the CoI are ‘ associated’ with the AG. Evidently the legal luminaries will be swayed by all the running and fetching the assistants would be doing! Oi Vey!! Johnny Braff Eyewitness couldn’t believe that Johnny Braff is still alive. And in Guyana! His dad still plays his songs, which in the 60’s, were on every island’s hit parade. Play it again Johnny. And let’s honour him.