The GPF and Public Trust
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
April 20, 2007
As was reported in the media yesterday, the perversion charge against Roger Khan associates Gerald Perreira and Paul Rodrigues was re-read summarily to the men on Monday. This case has caught the attention of the public not only because it involves two men who have been in the public light before, and for less than honourable reasons but because of the curious events it entails.
According to reports the two men were charged after questioning a prisoner being held at the Ruimveldt Police Station in relation to some stolen diamonds. The magistrate before whom they originally appeared, Mr. Gordon Gilhuys, recused himself from the case because of his friendship with one of the men. Then in applying for bail Rodrigues and Perreira, their attorneys claimed that the two men were in fact aiding the police. This was followed by a press release from the Guyana Police Force denying any collusion between the force and the two charged men.
It goes without saying that the GPF cannot afford at this time to have its loyalties and connections called into question. The Force has been slowly emerging from the long shadow of suspicion of collusion with the criminal underworld in this country. Even as this incident is engaging the attention of the public, the GPF is under fire for wounding of two Sophia brothers and their continued detention, without any publicly declared charge, while being treated for their wounds at their Georgetown Public Hospital. Public trust in the GPF is, as has been admitted several times by senior officials from Ministers of Home Affairs to Commissioners of Police, very much a work in progress and one which can be threatened by the least infraction, real or perceived.
While GPF collusion with the international narcotic trade, presuming any exists at all, would logically be restricted to a few corrupt officers, the fact that two men with alleged ties to Roger Khan – now locked away in a US prison on drug trafficking charges – can walk into a police station and question a prisoner reflects badly on the entire Force.
And although the GPF's statement clarifies the Force's official position on the issue, several questions still remain unanswered about the entire affair. How is that Perreira and Rodrigues were allowed access to the prisoner in the first place, particularly if neither man could be construed as legal counsel for the incarcerated man? As Perreira and Rodrigues are currently charged with perverting the course of justice, is there any such charge for the rank or ranks who facilitated their access to the prisoner? What are the rules governing access to persons held by the police, particular considering the fact that there has been complaints by family members of arrested men about the ability to have access to prisoners?
Whatever the outcome of this particular case, the slowly constructed edifice of public trust that the Guyana Police Force is building will remain structurally unsound unless these questions are answered. The press release is the first step in clearing what has become in the public a small but glaring anomaly in the machinery of justice here in Guyana – with specific reference to this case however, it is far from being the only step.