Kidnappings
Editorial
Stabroek News
October 28, 2002
The past few days have seen a worrying twist in the crime wave - a spate of kidnappings. It started with the abduction on Wednesday of Camaldeo Ganesh whose body was found on Saturday at the back of Buxton and continued the following day with the bullet-riddled kidnapping of Keishar's owner Brahmanand Nandalall. A day later, a man and his daughter were snatched and released after a ransom was said to have been paid.
Predictably, the response of the government and the police was to announce that an anti-kidnapping unit is to be set up. Why do the government and the police think that this after-the-fact reactiveness and prittle-prattle impresses the nation? It doesn't? Last week it was the announcement of an air corps to be outfitted presumably with a helicopter. No one actually believes that a police air wing is to be established anytime soon and moreover, not many believe that even if it was it would have any discernible impact given the present performance of the police force. The planned establishment of the anti-kidnapping unit is cold comfort to those now shuddering in the dark and wondering who is next.
In light of the current Trinidad experience and the earlier abduction of the Anral executive Ramjeet Ramphal and Marcelline Basdeo and that of auto dealer Kamal Seebarran, the police force had adequate warning. It was only a matter of time before this particular crime was imported here with a vengeance by the criminals who continue to terrorise the country with cruel ease.
But the kidnapping threat is not really a problem for the police. It is a problem for the hapless men, women and children who have been snatched and their relatives who have had to wait in agony while financial transactions take place. In all of this, the police have been blissfully unaware of what transpired. In the case of Ganesh, his disappearance had the most tragic end. Whether the person who murdered him was seeking to extract a ransom or simply wanted to kill him for some other nefarious reason is still to be determined.
Whatever the motive, these are perilous times for ordinary citizens. And whereas in times of peril the citizenry could look to the police for protection and help, the force has had to look out for its own and to bear the loss of 10 men killed in ruthless, murderous gunfire since April 1 and the wounding of many others. The plight of the force must be taken account of in this horrendous cycle of violence that has gripped the nation.
Sympathy aside though, the force faces two daunting hurdles in redressing the balance. Firstly, it has been outthought, outwitted and outgunned in most of the confrontations it has had with criminals. Secondly, it is severely hamstrung by the unwillingness of the public to cooperate with it and this may be one of the reasons why the force has failed in beating the criminals in the war of strategy and cunning.
What the Guyana Police Force (GPF) desperately needs to do is to regain the confidence of the populace and thereby open up a reservoir of goodwill out of which critical information will flow. Helicopters and an anti-kidnapping unit will not achieve this support. In some sections of the East Coast particularly in Buxton it may be very difficult in the short-term for the police to restore ties because criminals and politicians have so poisoned the minds of residents that no amount of rehabilitation of the force's attitude will win it friends. In the rest of the country, the force has to make a determined effort if it hopes to glean the intelligence that would allow it to act with split-second precision and nab those who are terrorising the country.
A village like Golden Grove is a perfect example. Prior to the kidnapping on Friday of the goldsmith and his daughter, a resident told Stabroek News that the kidnappers had been seen in the area and villagers were convinced that something was afoot. They however did not contact the police because of the poor relations between them and the GPF. Had the police been alerted they most likely would have been able to head-off the kidnapping and capture a carload of men in possession of high-powered weapons. It was a crucial loss to the police force and undoubtedly it is being repeated all over the country to the detriment of the citizens who are being targeted by the bandits.
Serious, sustained investment is needed by the police in the improvement of its community relations but there isn't much evidence of this.
As things stand in the realm of kidnappings, the police have been completely at sea. They have no knowledge of the kidnappers, no knowledge of the planning that goes into these operations, no knowledge of where the abducted have been taken, no knowledge of the transactions that take place and no knowledge of what becomes of the ransom once it has been paid. The families of those abducted have kept the police in the dark because they have no trust in the police force, they want to keep their financial dealings private or have been thoroughly frightened out of their wits by the threats of the captors.
Whatever the reason, we cannot afford to have a police force that has been consigned to the sidelines in what is becoming an increasingly bloody war by the criminals. The GPF is already weakened by the direct attacks on its members and its patent inability to outsmart the bandits. It needs the help of the public but it must also demonstrate its preparedness to receive this help by behaving at all times in a professional manner and guaranteeing the confidentiality of tips and information it gleans from members of the public.