For some time, people have been noticing that the police in Guyana are not as proactive as they should be. Every day social media is adorned with horrific images of assault, road fatalities and reports of other personal attacks.
I saw a clip highlighting the ranting of someone I would consider a madman. He proclaimed that he has many wives, one of whom has decided to leave him. His reasoned argument is that the woman had pledged to stay with him till death do them part.
The fact that she has left before either of them dies suggests that she wants to die, the man said. This could be a joke but there is no report of a police investigation.
There was another post of a man brutally beating a woman on the Kingston seawalls. The man begins to kick her in a manner wrestlers kick their opponents on screen. Dropkicks. Somehow the woman survives to crawl into a car. The man then proceeds to stomp her while she is seated in the car.
Someone posted that the police should investigate because the man is easily identifiable. Nothing. There is the fear that the man will kill the woman.
However, the police were quick to act when a fireman, driving a fire truck causes damage to a car belonging to a government official. Many years ago, there was a protocol that matters of that nature are tried departmentally.
Since the fireman is known and can be easily found the incident is reported to his supervisors. He would be detained if there is criminal intent but in this case there was none. So why the arrest as though he is a common criminal?
The answer is simple. The policemen acted with such alacrity because they thought that the government would have been enamoured with their response. The arresting policemen were playing to the gallery.
Had the car been owned by a private citizen the situation would have been different. The fireman would not have been detained. Instead, the police would have encouraged the people involved to settle the matter.
This is not the first time that there are different police actions in different situations. When the protesters are predominantly of another ancestry and are lined up against the government the police, more than 80 per cent of whom are Black, would open fire on the protesters.
This was common when people protested in the wake of elections.
But I saw a massive protest on West Berbice some time back. The people damaged passing cars, attacked a bus transporting school children and eventually confronted the police. The police never fired one shot. Instead, they turned and ran.
Some police ranks ended up in hospital with serious injuries. But again, the police were behaving true to form. They ignore certain situations.
In no other part of the world can motorists drive with such reckless abandon as they do in Guyana. They disobey the rules of the road. There is a rule about helmets; motorists ride past traffic policemen without any, and the police appear to be uncaring.
Cars ignore traffic signs. They fail to stop at traffic lights, ignore road signs and get away with their transgressions. If the police do stop anyone the enterprising ranks would simply demand a fee.
This is not to say that there are no good policemen but the good ones remain silent either because of peer pressure or fear of victimisation because the errant motorist may have connections to people high in the government or police echelons.
There was the case of a female police rank in plainclothes who flouted the law. She was stopped. The rank who stopped her suffered the ignominy of having a senior rank ordering him to let the woman go.
Gone are the days when the mere presence of the police forced people to toe the line. These days the police actually offer protection to wrongdoers.
What is amazing is that the wider society stands idly by. When the man was kicking the woman on the Kingston seawalls people used their cell phones to record the incident. No one stepped in to help. This may have to do with the police often placing the helper in the wrong.
Perhaps the police are so underpaid that they cannot be bothered to go the extra mile. There is no compensation for effort. Some have opted to resign.
What is not realised is that when the police force collapses so does law and order. Increasingly people are taking the law into their own hands. And this breakdown is now prevalent in schools. There have been parents who invaded schools to assault teachers. A few were placed before the courts.
Now there are children who display untold violence to their peers. I saw a schoolboy strike another with a piece of wood in the classroom. Last week a group of 12-year-olds beat a 10-year-old unconscious in the schoolyard.
There was a matter on West Demerara where a gang descended on a school to either beat or kill a student. This is just the beginning.
There was a time when the police were impotent. Five men escaped from the Camp Street jail and caused terror in Guyana. Policemen were afraid to wear their uniforms. Wearing that uniform was a death sentence.
When the situation was resolved a few years later, one would have expected that the new cadre of police would have developed a different work ethic. But people forget easily and lapse into old habits.
The administration seems to like things the way they are.
