…as statistics reveal 28 cops involved in accidents this year
As the Guyana Police Force (GPF) continues to remove its “rogue” elements, acting Commissioner David Ramnarine has affirmed that the Force has no place for unprofessional conduct, informing the public that some nine junior ranks were dismissed for their involvement in various types of motor vehicular offences.
Police statistics have revealed that for the period January-October 2017, some 28 junior Police ranks were involved in motor accidents, some of which saw persons losing their lives.
At Monday’s press conference, the acting Police Commissioner said that nine of those ranks were dismissed. He added that the Police Force’s senior administration would not accept such unprofessional conduct, whether or not the ranks operated their private cars or one of the Force’s fleet of vehicles, some of which were involved in accidents in recent weeks.
“You cannot be driving without fitness, insurance [or] drunk driving, and expect to be a member of the Force; you have to go,” Ramnarine strongly stated.
In March 2017 in Berbice, Constable Joshua Ali, then unlicensed, was fined Gy$37,500 after pleading guilty to Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol and breach of condition of provisional licence. Similarly, Police Constable Satrohan Gowkarran, who struck a pedestrian at Stewartville, West Coast Demerara, in a drunken state in September, pleaded guilty and was fined Gy$7500 and had his licence endorsed for a DUI.
Condemning such occurrences, Ramnarine suggested that new recruits were actively waiting to fill the vacuum that would be left by dismissed ranks.
“The Guyana Police Force did not have a long line waiting to enlist five years ago, but today through the grace of God and through public trust, and other initiatives, we have a long line waiting out there, so when you slip up; I’m not going to wait on three strikes, that is the way forward for the Force,” he related, at the same time condemning the heavily tinted motor cars of junior ranks.
Soesdyke, EBD in August (Shemuel Fanfair file photo)
In August, 58-year-old Pulmattie Ramotar, of Success, East Coast Demerara (ECD), succumbed two days after she was struck down on the Success Public Road by a police rank. Additionally, Eno David, 22, of Matthew’s Ridge, North West District, was struck down at the Soesdyke Public Road, East Bank Demerara, by a police rank, who was transporting an injured colleague, who himself was involved in a separate car accident in the early morning hours. Police had, however, claimed that no alcohol was found when breathalyser tests were conducted on these two ranks.
In September, 20-year-old former Lot 5 Hope Estate, ECD resident and sales girl Anastacia Kerr lost her life after she was struck down and killed by a drunken Police Lance Corporal at the Ogle Public Road, ECD. It was reported that the Policeman was proceeding along the roadway in motor car PSS 3984, when the now deceased woman allegedly ran across the road and into the path of the vehicle. As a result, the left side of the car hit her.
