But right now, it is more than high time to ask when will the decent, law-abiding villagers of Buxton move to reclaim their once proud village from the armed bandits who have transformed it into a criminal sanctuary?

After a brief period of comparative calm from the marauding criminals who have been robbing and even fatally shooting some of their victims, among them policemen, and terrorising women and children, Buxton was back in the news last Wednesday.

This time, the armed bandits had escaped into the "safety" of Buxton with a kidnapped victim, Dev Sharma of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce. When will this outrageous nonsense stop?

When will the great majority of Buxtonians rise up to liberate their village from the armed criminals and their supportive network?

We know of the encouragement these criminals get from their allies, some operating within the hostile, reckless media that brazenly stake their claim to freedom of expression.

We are also aware of the double-speak of politicians and a few politically-aligned civil society spokespersons. Their occasional condemnation of criminal activities in Buxton often come with expedient rationalisations, including self-serving, pious claims about "marginalisation".

This newspaper has been very forthcoming in praising the work of the security forces, the police in particular, in facing up to the criminal rampage, often with a number of lawmen falling victims to the armed criminals.

It is not, however, easy to ignore the harsh reality that frequent complaints of the terrorised in nearby villages, some of whom have lost loved ones and much of what they own, as well as commuters along the highway in the Buxton-Friendship area, do not reflect creditably on the performance of the anti-crime patrols.

Why is it that the success rate in roping in the criminals and breaking up the criminal network operating out of Buxton should be so low, in contrast to the "success" of the rampage of hijackings, kidnappings, robberies, killings and violence?

Disturbing example
The recent experience, for example, of trained, professional soldiers of the Guyana Defence Force being successfully frustrated by villagers of the Buxton-Friendship area from hot pursuit of armed criminals could hardly inspire confidence among the people of any or all communities suffering from ongoing criminal activities.

That the law enforcing agencies alone cannot be left to effectively deal with the criminal rampage is recognised and appreciated. Equally, it is their own performance in routing out criminals that could influence public cooperation.

We plead with the public, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or political persuasion to give their full cooperation to the security forces - for their own good and the good of Guyana.

This plea is particularly relevant right now to the people of Buxton who know how much harm has been done to their village's reputation by the criminals who are corrupting young people with bribe money and pushing guns into their hands to collaborate with their network.

Ultimately, an independent probe may have to be undertaken into the workings of the Guyana Police Force. Yes, in its own best professional interest, and to bring an end to the verbal abuse it faces from those who find it politically expedient to make sweeping judgements against its operations in crime control.