At ACCP meeting…
“These organisations that say they promote human rights, they have to understand that when society’s interest, people’s interest have been challenged; when you have psychopaths slaughtering people, then you need brute force. When you have someone shooting at you with AK-47s you need to send out the brute force AK-47s to get back at them. You can’t go there and smile and shake hands and negotiate, welcome them to the fold; they are not going to come.” – President Jagdeo
THE 24th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP) opened in Georgetown yesterday with President Bharrat Jagdeo charging the top cops to consider, during their five-day deliberations, the context within which they operate when making decisions.

The Guyanese Head of State, speaking at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, said the challenges that will necessarily impact their work must also be considered by the heads of law enforcement agencies in the region.

Mr. Jagdeo said security is not the only challenging issue being experienced within the various jurisdictions represented but the most current is the task of “reorienting our economies.”

Delivering the feature address at the opening ceremony, he pointed out that the economical structure that a lot of the Caribbean has grown accustomed to is one which is based on export into preferential markets.

But, today, “due to our own doing”, those markets are disappearing, multilateral regimes that are being passed on core exports are insisting more and more that the region compete on terms which are not favourable, “on terms in which we will never be able to survive,” the President observed.

He posited that, on the fiscal side, most in the region are reporting widening deficits, others are in a crisis situation with debt repayment and most of these countries are in a tight fiscal situation of expanding deficits.

“So, the call for them to spend more money, including on security related incidence, will fall on deaf ears if the money is not there, or spending more will exacerbate the situation, not just create greater or wider deficits but great inflation and the rise of interest rates, as you already see in some of these countries,” President Jagdeo said.

CLIMATE CHANGE
He said food security is another troubling issue for many states, alluding to the dramatic rise, in early 2008, of food prices across the region, as well as the issue of climate change, which will have a dramatic effect on many Caribbean islands on which most of their economies are premised.

“We have paid too little attention to climate change, although it poses a systemic risk, a catastrophic risk to our territories…we have seen what is happening in many of these countries. We have increased frequency of hurricanes, 80 per cent of gross domestic product could be wiped out in a single hurricane,” Mr. Jagdeo asserted, adding that this important matter will receive attention at the upcoming Heads of Government meeting in July.

He submitted all those matters to be considered at the meeting, maintaining they require the same resources that law and order does while the present global crisis is getting worse.

“I also hope that, in your analysis, you examine how the developed countries act when they are faced with challenges to their society, security challenges,” the President told the delegates.

He said, too often, some in society play politics with crime.

“We have to, in a very practical sense, see it as necessary to give our security forces the same tools that security forces have in the developed world,” President Jagdeo argued.

Referring to legislation surrounding the intercepting of telephone calls, which some CARICOM nations are still debating, he said he is very pleased to note the number of practical recommendations made at a recent regional meeting, all of which are aimed towards improving the security landscape of individual Caribbean States and the region.

President Jagdeo said the Criminal Law Procedures Act, the Interception of Communications Act and the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill are just some of the legislation passed in this country’s Parliament to assist law makers with their duties.

“These are the things that are necessary, the tools that are necessary to our law enforcement agencies. Sometimes, we get so caught up with strategy that we forget that we need tools. I agree that we constantly have to work to provide better conditions to policemen, but I have seen the commitment and the leadership of the Police Force.

TOUGH SITUATION
“Our Guyanese policemen don’t enjoy wonderful conditions…we are coming out of a tough situation…94 per cent of our revenue is going to service debt and now we are building eight hospitals, training about 750 doctors, so we can look at the social issues, but we don’t have the best conditions in the world. But I would say I am proud of them because they perform well, comparable with many countries that have better pay, so it’s not just about that,” he intoned.

President Jagdeo stated that he is very fearful over talk about crime and its genesis and pointing to the drugs trade and the reasoning behind these illegal activities, drawing a comparison to the crime rate of today and that of the past and urging the gathering to analyse what has changed.

He went on: “The crime is now more transnational. It is a different kind of crime. It is based on a flow of guns, a flow of drugs through our region and therefore to address that, domestic action alone, as important as it is, will not be sufficient. We need an agreement, a multilateral agreement reflective of this challenge, one which is a true partnership of equals.”

President Jagdeo, declaring that the asymmetrical relationship that obtains will not and cannot work, reiterated a call for policy makers to be unambiguous about their support for the security forces.

“We need to be very, very careful that we observe people’s human rights in our society. That is very important but sometimes I feel that the scale is tilted more in favour of the perpetrators and that can’t be right,” he offered.

“These organisations that say they promote human rights, they have to understand that when society’s interest, people’s interest have been challenged; when you have psychopaths slaughtering people, then you need brute force. When you have someone shooting at you with AK-47s you need to send out the brute force AK-47s to get back at them. You can’t go there and smile and shake hands and negotiate, welcome them to the fold; they are not going to come.”

At the same forum, CARICOM Assistant Secretary General, Dr. Edward Greene advocated a new approach to partnerships between the Police and other stakeholders in government service, private sector, civil society, schools, youth movements and faith-based organisations.

His suggestion was that there should also be an alliance between the Police and research centres that provide analyses of trends and guidelines for behaviour change.

Greene recommended that the ACCP should seek to follow up with and support the call of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies to establish a Centre of Excellence for Crime and Violence to be involved in research and training.

FOCAL POINT
“Herein lies a useful focal point to provide the empirical information to guide, monitor and evaluate the impact of Police reform programmes,” he opined, agreeing that the underlying factors of Police reform rest with the creation of viable networks around common goals and practices.

Acknowledging the escalation of crime, Greene concurred that it is linked to drugs and illicit firearms, which are undermining the social fabric of Caribbean societies, increasing risk behaviours among youths, corrupting public morals, destabilising economies and demoralising the environment in which ordinary Caribbean people exist through fear for their lives and livelihood.

“The situation is compounded by the fact that Caribbean countries are sandwiched between the major drug producing countries in the South and the largest markets in the North,” Greene reasoned.

He mentioned the role and dedication of Police men and women to service, even against extreme odds, such as lack of human, physical and financial resources and said much has been done by the ACCP to improve the thinking and practice of policing within the region.

However, Greene said while there have been investments by respective governments in upgrading the infrastructure to facilitate the work of the Police services, much more needs to be done to better the enabling environment in which their officers function.

He cited the substandard conditions that obtain in a number of Police stations in Georgetown and its environs and to which the Guyana Government has committed a significant amount of money to upgrade in the 2009 Budget but said the dehumanising conditions under which prisoners are detained at some epitomise the abuse of their human rights.

This, Greene said, has serious implications for the image of the Police and the legitimacy of their role as one of the agencies of human and social development.

“Hopefully, these conditions in our detention centres and prisons are not widespread throughout Guyana and the region. If so, there is a crisis that must be urgently addressed,” he said.

Greene said there is need to incorporate in any strategy of policy reform the improvement of conditions of service for Police officers as well as the environment in which citizens are detained or incarcerated.

He said the ACCP can contribute greatly, by establishing protocols and standards for implementing requirements in these areas that form part of the structure of Police reform intended to combine appropriate punishment with a formula for rehabilitation of those who commit crimes and reintegrating them into society, as worthwhile citizens.

DISTINCTLY DISTURBING
Greene said the challenges faced by the region, in dealing with crime and violence, are well known, with the statistics for many countries distinctly disturbing.

He said increased emphasis is being placed on collaboration in border security, information and surveillance, witness protection, control of drugs and arms, training and capacity building of the law enforcement and protective services.

“So far, there has been some progress, but it is increasingly being recognised that the key to a sustainable programme, rests with the construction and implementation of crime prevention strategies,” Greene reported.

ACCP President, Barbados Police Commissioner Darwin Dottin, in his remarks said without the capacity, the challenges being faced by the regional law enforcement agencies could not be adequately addressed.

The critical response to these challenges is further development, the provision of modern facilities and accommodation and the work of officers must be complemented by a criminal justice system, he said.

Dottin warned, though, that there is no “silver bullet” available and proffered the engineering of an overarching plan of action, one which considers all the issues and challenges.

He said the topics chosen for discussion were selected so as to generate understanding of international policing and examination of those characteristics of policing that will affect the region as it moves forward.

In attendance are representatives from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba , Bahamas , Barbados , Belize , Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Curacao , Grenada , Guyana , Martinique, Montserrat , St. Kitts and Nevis , Suriname , Trinidad and Tobago , Turks and Caicos, and the US Virgin Islands.