Danger in making 'hero'of criminal
Rickey Singh Column
LAW AND order in any democratic state is threatened when notorious criminals are elevated to `hero' status and the police are pushed on the defensive by expediently simulated political anger. This now seems to be the situation in Guyana, the latest example in the Caribbean Community of why political parties and politicians should avoid either statement or action for which they may later have to apologise or come to regret. As, indeed, happened in one well-known case in Jamaica with its unflattering reputation for the crimes that spawned some infamous self-styled `Dons' in some depressed communities. In contrast to what one editor-publisher in Guyana has described as the "bizarre affair" at the funeral of the criminal London last Wednesday, Prime Minister Owen Arthur of Barbados has appealed to the public for an end to the `love-hate' relationship with the police. That appeal has come amid vicious escalating gun violence and robberies and with the police planning `Town Hall' style meetings in an effort to mobilise public support in the anti-crime drive. In Guyana, Police Commissioner Laurie Lewis has dismissed as "dangerous nonsense" the claim by former President Desmond Hoyte, leader of the opposition People's National Congress (PNC), that there was a `Murder Incorporated Group' within the Force. Report for Caribbean Lewis, who was also Commissioner when Hoyte was President of the country, is currently preparing a report for circulation this week to his regional colleagues of the Association of Caribbean Police Commissioners on all matters relating to the crimes, shooting to death and funeral of the criminal London. It is a rather dangerous national security problem that has developed in Guyana with policemen concerned for their own physical safety following the `hero's funeral' given London, popularly known as `Blackie', and the accompanying allegation of a `Murder Incorporated' group in the local police force. This is the fall-out from the police killing on February 9 of London, their most wanted criminal, once a Lance Corporal of the Guyana Defence Force. Those who helped to organise his funeral service in Georgetown on Wednesday had his coffin draped, shockingly, with the national flag, `Golden Arrowhead', much to the embarrassment and horror of the disciplined services and civil society. Ex-President Hoyte, who has claimed that from his information, London was "murdered" by the police after he had agreed to surrender during an estimated 12-hour shoot-out, was among the public `mourners'. The `funeral service' had the atmosphere of a rally with scores of mourners dressed in camouflage military uniforms or wearing T-shirts printed `Blackie the hero'. Police Commissioner Lewis rejected Hoyte's allegation, as reported in the media, that the police were "killing people with impunity" in their fight against crime. Lewis said that the circumstances surrounding the criminal London "strike at the core of policing not just in Guyana but throughout the region at a time of very alarming scale of vicious crimes". In expressing his own disappointment with statements made by the PNC leader, Lewis said Hoyte should know that "the fundamentals" have not changed and were the same as when he was President and his party was in government. Further, argued the police chief, "those who honestly believe that London was `murdered' by the police, could resort to the courts instead of making "wild allegations and creating a hostile climate for the police, some of whom, including myself are now being verbally abused and threatened..." The 38-year-old London was on the run from the law for the past ten years. His crimes included two cases of murder - one of his victims a policeman - and some 14 cases of robberies involving at least G$131M. The robberies included money stolen under arms from the Guyana National Cooperative Bank ($50M), the National Insurance Scheme ($13M) and $60M from a businessman. He was killed during an unprecedented movie-style shoot-out at his fortress-like hotel hideout from where he battled a combined force of police and soldiers. Also killed with him was a woman said to have been his niece. His captured arsenal included heavy, sophisticated weapons, normally used by the police and army, among them two AK-47, Sterling sub-machine gun, revolver, pistol, grenades, live rounds of ammunition, spent cartridges, military boots and camouflage uniforms, two passports and a family photo album. A big topic of discussion in Guyana with the feared London dead and conveniently transformed into a kind of folk hero for his numerous daring wild-west style armed robberies and escapes from the police and his 12-hour shoot-out duel against police and soldiers, is: Where have the millions of stolen money gone from the robberies with which he was linked? The police say they are still investigating. Jamaica and Guyana Long poisoned by the culture of political tribalism and racial conflicts, Caribbean societies like Jamaica and Guyana have gone through, at varying phases, the terrible experiences of witnessing criminal elements operating infamous parallel security services to that of the nation state. Such experiences stand in contrast, for example, with Trinidad and Tobago at the time of dealing with criminals like Alwyn King and later Anthony `Lizard' Bridgelall. Or in the case of Barbados's preoccupation with the amazing escapes from the police and prison of convicted murderer Winston Hall. The contrast in these countries has more to do with media coverage that sections of society perceive as glamorising the exploits of criminal elements than of any political connections or indebtedness to powerful `gunmen'. In Jamaica, and the ghettos of Kingston in particular, some became so powerful in their criminal notoriety that they were to assume influential status with political parties and sections of private corporate interests exploiting their `protection' services. In Guyana, under previous governments of the PNC when the ruling party's flag fluttered alongside the nation's flag, the `Golden Arrowhead' at the Appeal Court, there was a cultural/religious group, `House of Israel', that was also allowed to function as an unofficial extension of or parallel `protective' force to the law enforcing agencies. It was a tragic period in the society when such enforcers brutally intimidated opponents of the governing party with impunity and the police were rendered virtually impotent to take effective action because of the powerful protectors of the enforcers. Jamaica, with perhaps the worse statistics in murder and violent crimes in the Caribbean - followed by Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados and St. Lucia in descending order -is also the place where political leaders have felt constrained to attend the funerals of well-known `gunmen' in past years. Both ex-Prime Ministers Michael Manley and Edward Seaga did so. But following his retirement from his People's National Party and active politics in 1993, Manley was to express as one of his deep regrets in political life his attendance at the funeral of a well-known gunman, `Feather Mopp'. I do not know if, on sober reflection, ex-President Hoyte will either express his own regret for his high profile presence at London's funeral or his claim about a `Murder Incorporated Group' in the Police Force. But there is understandable considerable apprehension in Guyana over incidents related with the funeral of London, including draping of his coffin with the national flag and followed by allegations designed to push the police on the defensive for his death. As the history professor of the University of Guyana, Dr James Rose, has declared in his own reaction, the whole scene at London's funeral, with the national flag draping his coffin, was a "travesty". Rose is worried about the kind of "message" being sent to the Caribbean and the wider international community. It is a concern that must be widely shared beyond the shores of Guyana, headquarter of the CARICOM Secretariat.
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