Dear Editor,
It was reported that during the evening of Friday January 7, 2023, five police officers from the Memphis, Tennessee Police Department in the United States of America carried out a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Tyre Nichols. Disturbing video footage which was released on Friday, January 27, 2023 by the Memphis Police Department shows five police officers brutally assaulting Nichols who died three days later from the injuries he received during the encounter.
The officers involved claimed that Nichols was stopped for reckless driving. According to the Chief of Police “an investigation and review of available camera footage had found no proof of that”.
All five police officers were dismissed and subsequently charged with several offences, including:
- Second degree murder
- Two counts of official misconduct
iii. Two counts of aggravated kidnapping
- One count of official oppression
- One count of aggravated assault.
It is reported that other law enforcement officers who failed to take appropriate action have been suspended from duty pending investigation. The speed with which this matter is being dealt with is to be commended. It is an indication that at least some law enforcement agencies are learning of the need to deal with incidents of this nature with dispatch. This is likely to instill confidence in the community and cause law enforcement officers to realise that there will be consequences for their unlawful actions.
This incident has led to protests in several communities across the United States of America. After viewing the disturbing video President Joe Biden issued a statement saying that he was “outraged and deeply pained” by the incident. He called the images of the incident “horrific”. The Memphis Chief of Police described the incident as “heinous, reckless and inhumane”.
On January 1, 2023, detective corporal Dwayne McPherson of the Guyana Police Force and Kishan Bugburgh were shot and killed by a member of the Guyana Police Force at Huntley Mahaicony, a village on the East Coast of Demerara, Guyana. The very day acting Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken, stated that he would be “transparent” and would provide “frequent updates” on the investigation, which had commenced.
The public was later told that the rank who said that he fired a “few” rounds in the direction of McPherson and Bugburgh, who were scuffling and the other rank who was on the scene of the incident were placed under “close arrest”. It was later reported that they were placed on “open arrest”.
It has been almost one month since the senseless killing of those two men and there has been no statement from the acting Commissioner of Police, the Minister of Home Affairs, the President of Guyana or any other official. The silence from civil society groups has been deafening.
The contrasting manner in which the two incidents have been dealt with highlights how dysfunctional the Guyana Police Force has become in dealing with incidents involving use of force, especially deadly force.
I wish to remind those in authority that the Police Complaint Authority Act provides for the investigation of incidents like the one mentioned above (homicide) to be supervised by that Authority.
It is hoped that those in authority in Guyana would look at how the Memphis Chief of Police and the District Attorney [DA] have handled the matter and seek to learn a lesson or two from that.
Yours truly.
Paul Slowe CCH, DSM, Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police and former Chairman Police Service Commission.
