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Cops cry out for a level playing field

By Dale Andrews

When many persons chose to join the Guyana Police Force, many were prepared for a career in law enforcement.

But, while many have remained in the force for over 20 years, quite a significant number of persons are now contemplating seeking greener pastures.

Some feel that they are wrongly treated, while others have progressed so rapidly, that there are some envious, if not discontented, officers.

Recently, this newspaper published a report in which it was alleged that there appears to be a deliberate plan to sideline at least three senior officers in the Guyana Police Force.

This led to a number of other officers crying foul at the treatment meted out to them.

Attacks were made against those who hold high office in the force.

Allegations of an uneven playing field surfaced during conversations with several officers.

They cited the treatment meted out to three of the force's officers as unfair, considering what others in the force have been accused of.

The three officers, Senior Superintendents Stephen Merai and Balram Persaud and Superintendent David Ramnarine are now being referred to as ‘walkers and limers.'

This is being viewed against the backdrop of more serious transgression by some of their superiors, as well as other officers, who ranks claim have ‘godfather's' in the force.

A case in point is that of a senior officer, who was fingered in at least two serious transgressions, and now heading a strategic department in the organization.

According to information received by this newspaper, the officer was accused of larceny of a crime file, which involved one of his relatives who was before the courts on a narcotics charge.

“An investigation into that matter was carried out, and we do not know what happened to it. He was suspended for a considerable length of time,” a source said.

The officer returned to office under what is being described as mysterious circumstances, and has risen to the rank of a Deputy Commissioner.

There are also reports that the said officer was involved in a passport scam, as well as the disappearance of $1M.

This newspaper also learnt that another senior officer, who is a possible candidate for the post of police Commissioner, is alleged to be carrying several unwanted ‘baggage' from the past.

This officer was also suspended for allegations of sexual misconduct in Berbice and other parts of the country.

One of these alleged episodes culminated with a physical confrontation with another officer.

He, too, resumed duties after being sent on leave to facilitate investigations into the matters, although he was linked to a backtracking scam.

Sunday 05-29-2005

Missing sugar workers

Justices of the Peace group says:
Mobilize all security forces and cleanse the area

Police on the East Coast of Demerara, combed from Vigilance to Buxton backlands for yet another day on Friday, following reports that the bodies of the two sugar workers, who went missing a week ago, were in the cane fields.

Kaieteur News understands that sugar workers reported to police on Friday that they were getting a smell that suggested rotting bodies.

A police source on the East Coast of Demerara told this newspaper that several ranks went into the backlands and searched a number of cane beds.

Even relatives of the missing men, Sampersaud Taranauth and Maikhram Sawh, who had heard about the report, joined in the search. In the end, there still were no traces of the men.

After seven days, hope of finding the men alive is dwindling. However, Sawh's family is not giving up.

Monica Sawh, a daughter of one of the missing men, said that members of the Hindu Dharmic Sabha offered prayers for the men's safe return to their families. “We hope our prayers are answered soon,” she told this newspaper.

She explained that since her father's disappearance, the daylight brings some optimism, which dwindles as the sun set in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Justice of the Peace Association-GJPA-- is recommending the mobilization of a force, comprising the police and GUYSUCO security personnel, to provide a safe environment for persons to work.

In a statement issued yesterday, the GJPA said that it has the confidence in the potentials of the Guyana Police Force to ‘clean the slate'.

“…Now is the time to mobilize the full strength of the police and GDF forces, the full force of armed policing groups, with the tremendous resources of GUYSUCO and with this massive combination, walk through and cleanse the slate,” the statement said.

The GJPA is of the view that the men have been kidnapped.

In its statement, the body said that is it very perturbed over the resurfacing of the criminal gangs on East Coast Demerara, which without any reasonable grounds, have allegedly kidnapped two innocent sugar workers.

“The atrocities of those criminal gangs against harmless, law abiding and defenceless people, are cause for serious concern to all sober-minded Guyanese people and more so, the breeding ground of uneasiness among them in our society..,” the GJPA said.