Public has confidence in Police…

− ignores police statistics

By Devina Samaroo

Defending his position that public confidence in the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is not lost, Police Commissioner Seelall

Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud

Persaud expressed his belief that the political Opposition is undermining the GPF’s efforts to fight crime by generating a perception that crime is spiralling out of control and that public trust and confidence in the system is rapidly deteriorating. During an exclusive interview with Guyana Times on Tuesday, Persaud said it is extremely unfortunate that crime has grown to become a tool for all political Oppositions to attack and defame the Government of the day, stating “It is extremely unfortunate that crime generally is a social issue, it is a social problem but unfortunately in Guyana, it is also a political problem. It is a highly political issue and it shouldn’t be.” Persaud remained grounded that the public’s confidence in the Police Force is not lost, pointing out the headway in several high profile cases were made through assistance from the community. He argued that public confidence simply cannot be lost when the support of the community is evident in helping to solve crimes, making reference to the Montrose Granny Murder, the Nandy Park Shooting, the attack on the Land Court Judge and her husband, and the buried body in Berbice, among others.

Possible political influence Therefore, in supporting his argument that crime is heavily politicised, the Commissioner highlighted three major incidents of crime that recently occurred which he concluded was politically influenced. He referred to the robbery in Campbelville where Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan’s neighbour Geetanjalie Ramotar was brutalised and tape bound by bandits, indicating that this situation raises suspicion. “From all our experience in criminal operations, they (bandits) don’t have time for that (scotch-tape victims), they don’t have time to do that. The other thing too, tell me; when something like that is going on, why would somebody try to photograph that person rather than to help them. The Minister was one of the first people to go over. They didn’t call the Police, they called the Minister and the Minister called the Police. So someone took that photo prior to. So you believe that any rational thinking person would come to mind that you know, take a photograph instead of calling a Police. The other thing, the Police asked how they got in the house. They were informed that the men break the padlock…On to now, the padlock cannot be produced. So you have situations like that that inflames…and it makes it bigger than it is,” he said. He also referred to the murder of Corentyne resident Pamela Kendall which sparked a massive protest against the

Government by residents in the area. “There was a case in Berbice, there is a big hue and cry about the crime there and the man used that opportunity to kill his wife. So there was blackout in the area at the time and he killed his wife because he believes what the media is reporting that criminals are running around the area all the time and based on his perception and opportunity, he did that,” the Commissioner posited. He pointed out that the Opposition forces used this situation as a political tool to attack the Government rather than take a more proactive approach to help fight crime. “Instead of helping, you are interfering…Situations like these come when crime is politicised and we should not be doing that, we should be coming together and working towards reducing crime,” Persaud contended. He also highlighted another situation which he strongly believes was politically motivated, given the circumstances surrounding the situation that was reported. “We have on the Corentyne, a woman went to the Police Station at 4 o’clock in the morning and reported that two men went into her house…held her at gunpoint, demanded money and she handed over $210,000. Her husband was in the hammock sleeping, they did not interfere with her husband, she walked out of her house at 04:00 am and went to the Police station and didn’t wake up her husband. Who does that? Who does just get robbed at gunpoint and would leave your husband sleeping in the hammock and walk to the Police station to report a robbery. Nobody does that,” the Commissioner argued, pointing out that, political influences on social problems like crime can impact the behaviour of supporters. “So those kinds of things happen. While the politicians may not be behind it, people who think that they will serve a political purpose will venture into doing those things… It affects the people that vote for them as well,” the Commissioner said. Persaud related that in all his years of working with the GPF, the Government always exhausts its efforts to fight crime while the Opposition would lay back and attack. But he is of the view that the Government, as well as the Opposition, and the public, need to put differences aside and determinedly work together to bring crime down.

“Crime affects all of our lives regardless of one’s political affiliation. It cuts across religion, greed, race, whatever, it affects all of us and in order to really drive the situation down, we need to come together, all of us and deal with crime,” he stated. The most recent crime statistics reveal that serious crime increased by a drastic 10 per cent at the end of July, in comparison to the same period last year. A total of 94 murders were recorded at the end of July 2015 in comparison to 80 at the end of June 2014, which saw an increase of 18 per cent. On to the 13th day of August, four murders were recorded taking the toll to 98 for the year thus far. Of these, 35 murders were committed in A Division (Georgetown-East Bank Demerara), followed by 17 in C Division (East Coast Demerara) and 16 in B Division (Berbice). In addition, 12 were committed in F Division (Interior locations) and four each in D (West Bank Demerara-East Bank Essequibo) and E Division (Linden-Kwakwani) while six were recorded in G Divisions (Essequibo Coast-Islands). Statistics shows that 37 of the 94 murders committed were disorderly, followed by the 15 during robberies and six through execution-style killings. Eleven were as a result of domestic disputes, 23 were from unknown causes and two by other means. Further, there has been an increase of 68 per cent in the number of reports of rape, with 243 cases being reported at the end of July when compared to 145 for the same period last year. Break and enter, larceny and burglary have shown an overall increase of nine per cent. A whopping 28 more illegal firearms were seized when compared to the same period last year.