The customary outrage that comes after any incidence of Police excesses was not evident last week when a Cadet Officer shot Alex Griffith in the mouth during the process of escorting him to the Brickdam Police Station on allegations that he was witness to a robbery of the said officer’s relative.
The silence by citizens and the scores of human rights organisations in Guyana today is perhaps an indication of how sick our society has become of these types of atrocities from our lawmen. Still to resolve the episode involving Colwyn Harding and the countless others, the Guyana Police Force (Service?) could have done well without what transpired at East La Penitence last week Sunday.
It came at a time when new Commissioner of Police (ag) Seelall Persaud is forging ahead with his much vaunted Impact Programme in Albouystown, aimed at retaking the community from the clutches of criminals, the shooting of young Griffith in a neighbouring community could only undermine that initiative and further massage the distrust among residents of the Force.
From all reports Griffith, only 15 years old, was arrested at his home by policemen who accused him of being present when someone was robbed. The teenager denied being on the scene and also provided an alibi. His mother also testified that he was not a witness to the robbery, but the Police did not believe their story and as such arrested Griffith with the intention of taking him to the Police station.
What happened minutes later is the officer placing a gun in Griffith’s mouth and shooting him.
This type of behaviour is symptomatic of a Force that is badly in need of reform and, though authorities often boast of measures that are being taken to improve policing, the Force remains in shambles. The lack of respect for citizens, particularly those of a certain social class and the often high-handed display of force are too frequent the complaints of a wary citizenry of the premier law enforcement agency of the country.
Griffith’s experience also shows how callous some of our lawmen have become. That one could be moved to shoot a young boy in his mouth for reportedly failing to provide information on an alleged robbery is to render human lives cheap. It is in this area for many citizens, our policemen and women need training – respecting the rule of law and upholding human rights.
A Police forum at Eve Leary was recently told that human rights and democratic practices are essential components to modern policing and can no longer be considered as “add-ons” to the policing process. The forum heard that all aspects of policing – investigations, arrest procedures, use of force, recruitment and relations with communities? have to be reviewed from the new perspective of democracy and human rights, and that the wide-ranging implication of a shift to democratic policing extends to recruitment and the need to screen out elements which are hostile or unsuited to this new approach to policing.
Any reform of the Police Force should factor this, making it clear that it is far more prudent, in the long run, if we insist on prudent Police behaviour and rigorous enforcement of standards. Alex Griffith’s case, however, is not unlike the many about which people complain all too often, mostly without consequence.
But increasingly, victims are pursuing civil cases, which was the approach of Twyon Thomas, the young boy who was tortured while in custody at the Leonora Police Station a few years back. The court had awarded Gy$6.5 million in damages to a teenager who had sued the State after his genitals were doused with methylated spirit and set alight by police during a murder investigation in 2009.
For, what should be pellucid, assuming, somehow, it was not clear before, is that an out-of-control Police Force is not only bad for the society, but potentially expensive business for the state. And that, ultimately, means added burden for taxpayers.
