IN recent times, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been battling to bring the crime situation under control and in many of those cases persons who are arrested during police operations turn out to be no strangers to the cops.There are cases when some persons, both men and women, had served time for various offences, while others who had been charged for very serious offences are back on the streets after securing bail from the High Court.
On Wednesday morning, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum was asked about the practice of the GPF rewarding its ranks for outstanding work, but then the very people they take before the courts continue to be on the streets due the ruling of the High Court for bail to be granted.
Blanhum in response told reporters that the development is indeed a concern for the GPF and the organisation has in the past vented its frustration with respect to the bail issue.
He was however quick to point out that the decision to grant bail to those persons is not within the ambit of the Force and that the Force also understands the constraints with which the courts are faced.
He encouraged members of the media to raise the issue with those in the judiciary, who may be in a better position to respond to the concerns and put the issue into better perspective.
The crime chief also told journalists that the GPF also understands that the court is faced with many backlogged cases.
He said that Guyana, unlike other countries, does not have a system for monitoring the movements of persons who are granted bail by the High Court and in that regard, the work of the police becomes more challenging, since these very persons once again become the subject of fresh police investigations.
In the past, there have been those who were either killed in shootouts with the police or killed under other circumstances and when the police ran the checks on them, it was discovered that those very persons had passed through the lower courts and were granted bail by the High Court. Additionally, they may have had their cases thrown out for some reason or the other.
In May, President David Granger came in for harsh criticism from sections of the public, after it was reported that he had pardoned 60 prisoners.
Those prisoners were however not immediately released as work had to be done to facilitate their re-integration into society.
Additionally, it was not all 60 persons who had been pardoned that were allowed to walk, since the President meant for those with minor offences to be the beneficiaries; but when checks were done on those identified, it was found that many of them had other charges pending also and which were still engaging the courts.
Former President Donald Ramotar had also been criticised for pardoning a man, Ravindra Deo, who was serving jail time for kidnapping and murdering a young boy in 1994.
The former President made the move just hours after he was slated to leave office, having lost the May 11,2015 General and Regional Elections.

By Leroy Smith