Police abuses committed with impunity
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Police abuses committed with impunity
- cops to respondUS State Department report
Stabroek News
March 21, 2000
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is to respond to statements in the US State Department's Human Rights report for 1999, which allege that police abuses are committed with impunity. The police's response, Stabroek News understands, has been requested by Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj.
The report claims, among other things, that the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) accused the police of committing nine extra-judicial killings, though it noted that these were fewer than the previous year when 11 such acts were reported to have been committed.
It said too that "police abuse of suspects also declined" adding, "the authorities took some steps to investigate these abuses more effectively and brought charges against some individual policemen accused of killings."
The report said that in seven of the cases, "the police shot the victims while attempting to arrest them or while a crime was being committed."
Among the nine extra-judicial killings listed in the report are the October 22, shooting of Fazal Narine in the chest in front of his wife and children by a police officer; and the November 14, killing of Colin McGregor when eight to ten policemen reportedly opened fire in his home.
The report recalled that the police had detained Narine at the Enmore police outpost after his wife had complained about his abusive behavior. Although the police claimed that he had died in a scuffle, his relatives stated that he was drunk and unarmed. At the end of last year, Narine's death was under investigation by the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The report mentioned that the Working People's Alliance had called for an investigation of the Narine case due to concern that abused women might be reluctant to report their problems to the police in the light of Narine's death in custody.
The report said that in the case of the killing of McGregor, the opposition PNC "cited this killing as an example of police brutality" and called for the government to establish a commission to investigate what the PNC termed "widespread" extra-judicial killings since 1993 by members of the police force.
The report noted that the judicial enquiry into the controversial fatal shooting by police in 1998 of Victor 'Junior' Bourne began in late 1998, with several witnesses giving testimony. Pathologist Dr Leslie Mootoo, now deceased, testified that "consistent with official reports, the deceased fired a gun before his death."
However, the report noted: "17-year-old Shemrick Raulston Nedd, who lived in the same house at the time of the incident, contended that while peering through a hole in the wall he saw Senior Superintendent Stephen Merai and Superintendent Leon Fraser shoot Bourne while he lay asleep. "On January 6, all documents required to prosecute Merai and Fraser disappeared from the responsible magistrate's office."
The report said too that no further progress had been made towards resolving the 1997 case of Adam Hescott, an escaped prisoner, whom police shot and killed.
"The GPF's standing orders officially permit the use of firearms only when other means have been exhausted. However, many justice authorities and human rights activists say that because of rising crime and pressure from urban businesses, which are often the targets of criminals, the government has taken a lax attitude towards investigation of alleged police abuses."
The report also mentioned the disappearance of Franz Britton, whose relatives claim they had not seen him since he was arrested and detained by police in March 1999. "Although the police claimed to have released Britton, his relatives said that they had not seen him since his detention."
The report also recorded the allegations of police brutality, citing the case of "the beating of Esther Grant on March 22. Police were videotaped beating her in front of her children."
The report said that "inmates, attorneys, and judicial authorities provided credible evidence that police and correctional officers frequently ignored the actions of other inmates who beat, robbed, or otherwise mistreated 'problematic' prisoners."
It stated too that there were 23 persons injured as a result of non-lethal police shootings from January through September, 1999.
The report also recorded the allegations of police brutality during the seven-week strike by public servants. It noted that violence accompanied several large public protests and strikes during the year. The cases cited were the report in March that police had beaten a member of the press and a group of strikers; and the firing of pellets by police on May 18, into a crowd of 200 striking workers when 17 persons were injured. Police fired shots, tear gas, and pellets at strikers and demonstrators on several occasions during the seven-week strike.
The report noted too that in response to the growing number of complaints against the police, the police established the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) in 1997. The OPR received 99 complaints that resulted in criminal and departmental charges brought against 40 police officers related to 78 of the complaints At the end of the year, the OPR continued to investigate 35 reports of alleged misconduct.
However, the report noted, "even when police officers do face charges, most of the cases are heard by lower magistrate courts, where other specially-trained police officers serve as the prosecutors. ...human rights activists question officers' commitment to prosecuting their own colleagues."
