OWING to a number of tragic, regrettable and heartbreaking events over the past month or so, police action in Guyana has come into sharp national focus, with some international exposure, so much so that newscasts, analysts, and social media personalities from other countries are commenting.
My heart goes out to all those affected by recent incidents that must have awoken the conscience of this nation.
Ordinarily, beat duty officers and, in some cases, their immediate supervisors have taken actions inconsistent with their own SOPs and in some instances with the Law.
As a result of their actions, we see frequent accusations being laid directly and indirectly at the feet of top political elites and rulers.
This is compounded by poor police-public relations. We have a culture where our initial response to incidences not considered kosher, to rush to defence and attempts at institutional exculpation.
This pervasive mindset permeated police communications to the public.
The police themselves made public statements and press releases that caused right-thinking people to question whether the police themselves understood policing and police process.
For example, the first public statement on a tragic incident, that is bound to draw significant public attention, cannot be to give extensive details of an incident that is still considered a developing story.
Any initial communication to the public must have four and only four ingredients: 1. Acknowledge that a tragic incident has occurred; 2. Express sadness about any injuries, loss of life, limb or property that may have occurred 3. Give assurances that the police will conduct an impartial investigation and will return to the public with details as evidence comes to light; 4. Ask for public cooperation and patience.
Anything else is bound to invoke suspicion of either police cover up and ruin public confidence in law enforcement.
From there, the vineyard is ripe for public anger and injection of lawlessness by those with such inclinations.
The police need to realise the ubiquitous presence of CCTV cameras and smart phones. Standalone CCTV cameras are duty- free, and everybody can afford one.
For under $G10,000 a person can purchase a camera, pop in a memory card, link it to a mobile app and have 24/7security surveillance.
On most smartphones, you simply have to shake the phone in a predefined motion to start up the camera, and, in about a second or two, have a rolling video broadcast system.
Despite this, I don’t understand why the police find it useful to engage in adventurism when it comes to communicating information to the public.
The culture of defence and the rush to exculpate is not limited to the police, as an institution, but extends to politicians. This is because police action has an intricate intertwined relationship with politics.
Politicians and political parties around the world have won or lost popularity based on their response to police action and crime.
In terms of ultimate responsibility, poor police performance is a political issue for which our leaders must take responsibility and be transparent and accountable to the people.
This includes having the courage to take the hard decisions necessary to go beyond the cosmetic obloquy and make deep police reforms that fundamentally change the trust relationship between the police, public and political triad.
While I acknowledge that the buck stops at the desk of the political leaders and policymakers for any developing culture in the police force, I think it is a bit of a stretch to surmise that a police constable executing his normal everyday beat duty, which resulted in tragedy, was politically directed, or a senior officer who has acted either incompetently or corruptly was under the direct influence of a politician.
That aside, the current Administration is enjoying the support of many ordinary Afro-Guyanese from across the country, and made some gains in some of the very strongholds of the opposition.
Recognisably, the recent two incidents that grabbed international headlines featured, in the main, Afro-Guyanese victims.
Minus the rank political opportunism exhibited by the opposition to hijack legitimate grievances for partisan political gain, the people are asking for police reforms that will lead to increased professionalism in police operations, the
government cannot be seen to be sitting on its hands; it must make the immediate changes (especially to the things that are low-hanging fruits).
In this regard, we have seen some actions that are tended in the right direction, giving the indication that the government is prepared to start the long journey to restoration of confidence.
The governing party cannot stop there; it must also outline a definitive and possibly time-bound plan for larger consultative reforms.
The government does not have the luxury of mismanaging either its PR or policy responses to these and other incidences, otherwise it runs the risk of having its newly-acquired (and growing) Afro-Guyanese following start second guessing their support, and tank the momentum towards the 2025 elections.
On a tenuous one-seat majority, these incidents are ripe for bottom-house whisper campaigns to incite racial sentiments, and retard the gains made.
For this reason, the government has to treat with this issue delicately, seek wide participation, especially of Afro-Guyanese who just came in with some non-traditional perspectives, and at the same time speak to their more zealous support base to engage in responsible speech along with the attendant amiable atmosphere.