The African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) believes that the crime rate could skyrocket again if the police force continues to ignore the internal drug-trade.

The group says that more attention should be placed on combating the trade internally where it sustains other criminal activities, like cartel wars or even police executions.

ACDA’s Barrington Braithwaite says drug trafficking “is really being ignored,” although it contributes to crime and played a big part in the surge in crime that occurred after February 2002’s jailbreak.

“It could recur. We have seen it in Colombia... and in Bolivia. If [trafficking] is allowed to go unchecked and allowed to feel legitimate it consumes you,” he warned the Disciplined Forces Commission yesterday.

The commission is investigating the operations and composition of the disciplined forces, with special focus on the police force. Justice of Appeal Ian Chang chairs the commission which also includes the former Attorney-General, Charles Ramson, S.C, former National Security Advisor, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, attorney Anil Nandlall and Irish human rights activist Maggie Beirne.

Braithwaite said the police force had already been engulfed by the trade which was evident in unlawful extra-judicial killings. He advocated better conditions of service, training and recruitment as solutions to the problem of police involvement in these activities.

Apart from these areas, he said the force needed to focus on an internal campaign to suppress drug trafficking. But he said the force was incapable of leading the fight which required a joint services effort.

Justice Chang asked him to consider the wisdom of suppressing the trade while ignoring preventative measures like stopping the importation of drugs into the country.

Braithwaite said the internal fight was all that Guyana was capable of, with its present resources.

John Willems and Mansoor Baksh, private citizens with their own concerns about the police force also testified at yesterday’s hearing. Are the allegations and rumours about the police force true or false? This is the question being asked by the public who grow more suspicious and fearful when they are left unanswered Willems told the Commission.

Is the force’s operational efficiency impaired because it has been largely infiltrated by the drug trade? Are the statements made about (deceased police superintendent) Leon Fraser in the USA true? Have they been investigated? What are the findings? How can police corruption be dealt with? Who investigates the police? And if the politicians exceed their powers in respect of the force, are they punished?

Willems said these questions needed to be answered, “[or] it’s seen as some sort of cover up, either by the police or the powers that be... You just don’t know.”

In his submissions he admits that he has no inside knowledge and these allegations could all be rumour, “[but] the Commission has to sort out what is fact - There is an adage `where there is smoke there is fire’.”

Willems also addressed the issue of racial imbalance in the force, which he said might be a cultural feature since traditionally different ethnic groups had gravitated to different sectors.

He said imbalance was present throughout society and racial quotas, which could be more divisive, could not be imported into the forces.

Willems considered that making the forces more ethnically reflective of society was desirable but could not be effected suddenly or in breach of the constitution.

Meanwhile, Baksh complained to the Commission about the way police used their powers of arrest and detention on the citizenry whom he said were treated as though they were guilty until proven innocent.

“I share some of your concern [about] the way some police exercise their powers of arrest and detention,” Ramson said “... But what you seem to be saying is that that should be the exception rather than the rule until all investigations are completed.”

“Yes,” said Baksh who described various scenarios where citizens were illegally held because of policemen’s unintended or deliberate ignorance of the law.

He recommended that a monitoring system - like field officers from the Police Service Commission - be set up to examine and evaluate the actions of policemen.