The New Commissioner of Police is already facing the proverbial fire as he is called upon to support and interpret varying views and opinions on crime in Guyana. To his credit, he has manoeuvred around the subject of race and politics in crime and sought to address the issue professionally where indeed it should be.
What the police force needs now more than ever is clearance from political or other persuasions, hindrances and fetters, and support to do the job. But just as importantly, it is imperative that the criminal justice system be strengthened to support the work of the hardworking ranks like Gavin Ricknauth who put their lives on the line day after day. Having carried out the arrest, completed the investigations, prepared the statements, and filed the charges; the policeman or woman has done their part and passes the baton to the judicial system. What is in doubt is whether the criminal justice system can carry that baton to the finish.
Standing on the other end of sometimes months of hard labour, investigation and intelligence gathering, are a defence lawyer, a Magistrate and a well-meaning prosecutor. Invariably, this prosecutor has received training in the rudimentary aspects of prosecution of criminal matters and he or she is expected to do general duties at some state function, fair ground or bridge under repair the evening before the matter. It cannot escape notice that even as the administration attempts to grapple with the intricate and complex trends and challenges of the new crimes we face, too little attention and emphasis is being paid to the system which is intended to ensure that the guilty are punished and the innocent released not on grounds of political connections, missing evidence, or police rank unavailability, but on recognised legal and meritorious grounds. The government would have done well to focus on beefing up the system across the spectrum from law enforcement to the judiciary and ultimately to the prisons rather than gamble with an ill-fated strategy of using criminals to fight criminals.
This argument was strenuously put forward at the debates for the government's Crime Bills introduced in 2003 when it was argued that creating laws and devising harsher penalties have no impact unless the system intended to administer the legislation, is simultaneously and commensurately adjusted. Good police work without skilled prosecutors will amount to naught. Convictions without an efficient, modern and human penal system will breed more hardened criminals rather than rehabilitate and effectively punish.
Against this background if one were to examine the 2004 budget one gets a sense that there is little else but lip service being paid to the claim that there is a holistic plan to fight crime. Crime cannot be fought only with weapons, vehicles, SWAT teams and intelligence gathering. The supporting pillar to that of law enforcement, has to be constructed from a corps of Judges, Magistrates and prosecutors who are knowledgeable and fearless to tackle the evolving trend. The design and establishment of the architecture to support the criminal justice system is undoubtedly the function of the Ministries of Legal and Home Affairs, which are expected to set the policy for the improvement of the system.
Answers to burning questions are needed. What about better salaries and conditions including tax concessions not only for the Chancellor and Chief Justice but for all Judicial personnel, what about the construction of a new court building with modern facilities for the recording of evidence, research, security for witnesses and jurors, to name a few. The point must be made that our successive Attorneys-General have failed to see the need to work in tandem with the Ministry of Home Affairs to execute a National Security Strategy known and understood by everyone not predicated on a desire to persecute anyone but to ensure that the Constitution and Laws of Guyana are upheld and that the playing field is made level so that the scales of justice remain fairly balanced between the state and the citizen. Listen to the testimonies of most citizens who are afraid to give information to the Police because they are afraid of being discovered and exterminated. The state has a duty to ensure their protection.
The hallmarks of a democratic state are not hard to identify and whilst most nations fall short of the mark, we must at least recognise that there is elsewhere, an ongoing and committed attempt to meet that mark. Perhaps most distinguishing of all hallmarks is the presence of a functioning legal and judicial system. The Chancellor and Chief Justice amazingly continue to function with limited resources, as morale remains low and were it not for the interventions of USAID or the Carter Center the judicial system would have collapsed months ago. Everyone gets a sense that there is some coming cataclysmic event that will turn everything around and usher in a new dispensation and so in the interim the edifice is held together. This event is likely never to take place.
The Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC) recognised the vital link between crime fighting and the judiciary in its interim report, which incidentally is accumulating dust and cobwebs, when in their own words the Commissioners wrote "Inordinate delays in holding inquests, delays and failings in the court system, and weaknesses in communication between the police/the DPP/the courts, have led to a crisis of confidence in the whole system. Changes to policing will not have the intended impact if they are not complemented by the major changes in the wider criminal justice system."
The signs of progress are not simply the removal of the PNC flag from the court buildings but the quality of work emanating from the courtrooms and chambers of the judges and magistrates. In today's world it would be wrong to hang flags but at least in the past the quality of the Guyanese legal mind and system was recognised the world over. A random enquiry of any litigant, detective, prosecutor or young lawyer tells a story of helplessness and hopelessness. Everyone refers to the days when the system worked even if not perfectly. Not intending to diminish the skill and professionalism of any defence lawyer, I wish to point to the fact that convictions in the criminal assizes are now becoming rare and this must be a cause for concern. Is it that the persons brought before it are indeed innocent of all allegations? Are the chambers of the DPP up to the task of presenting cases or is poor policing hampering them? Could it be that the jurors themselves are sending a message that they see the state as repressive and feel a moral obligation to release persons caught in its dragnet. These are pertinent questions that can only be answered on the basis of empirical evidence following state commissioned studies.
Some areas for consideration by any administration would be the discussion about the rehabilitation or condemnation of the High Court building, the training of counsel within the chambers of the DPP, the review of the practice of police prosecution for all or some categories of offences, the publication of judicial decisions, the better regulation of the legal profession to address corruption, and incompetence, and the utilisation of the University of Guyana and other institutions of learning to understand and prepare for the changing society we live in. The leaders of the judiciary must be heard to say, "Bring us the laws and we will interpret and enforce them quickly and fairly but empower us with the training, knowledge and tools to do so." I know that some may want to disagree and take issue with this pronouncement but in essence, the judicial system like its sister institutions, the Legislature and Executive branches of the state have failed to live up to the expectations of the framers of our constitution and to the people. Its crisis position and eventual repair cannot therefore be seen in isolation from an overall national effort to redefine and reposition the State of Guyana in the context of its people and in the international community.
In a closing note, I want to call attention to the growing number of disappearing persons in Guyana. The last week has shown three new cases firstly that of Joslyn Jones of Friendship, East Coast Demerara, and of Darrel Hopkinson, also known as "Theo" and the Iranian cleric Mohamed Hussein Ibrahimi. These three now join the dozen or so young men who were abducted and have disappeared within recent times. The best known of these is of course Collie Wills who the records show was removed from police custody by a Senior Police Officer and was never seen alive again or even his remains discovered. One cannot help as well but remember Vivekanand Nandalall who disappeared supposedly at the hands of kidnappers last year. It must be excruciatingly painful for the relatives of these missing men not to know the truth so that they could have closure. A little research has shown that there are several countries in the world with this problem including, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Yemen.
This is not a grouping that Guyana should find itself in. An appeal is made to the authorities to redouble their efforts to find these men and a plea as well to their abductors to make amends by phoning in to someone, tips as to what happened, and where they or their remains could be unearthed.