DEGENERACY IN THE JOINT FORCES
Recently Rustum Bulkan wrote glowingly about the members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), who retrieved the body of his young daughter from the gorge at Kaieteur Falls at great risk to their own lives.

The villagers of Alexander Village, who celebrated their Diwali festival without invasion from hordes of destructive elements after a decade of suffering, all thanks to the Guyana Police Force, have all expressed great appreciation to the police men and women, who conducted themselves with professionalism and restored their faith in the girls and boys in uniform.

When the “Fine Man” gang began a reign of terror in the land, similar to the days when the “Jailbreak Five”, the “Kick-down-bandits” and the “Blackie” gang terrorised the land, raping, robbing, killing their victims at will, the relentless pursuit of the police and subsequent eradication of the main members of the gang, at great risk to the lives of the members of the force, made the members of the uniformed services seem like heroes to the people of the nation.

But, sadly, all this effort and goodwill have been sidelined by news that filter out and send shockwaves into the hearts and minds of the nation, which has painted the joint forces with negative images that have derailed all this trust that the really professional and committed members of the joint services have earned.

The members of the police who do not use brainwork and strategy in investigative processes in their bids to solve crime, but who pick up persons willy-nilly and bully, terrorise, or torture them into signing statements that they have not written themselves, thereby losing their credibility and putting the reputation of the organization in the line of fire.

Obviously any signature or confession obtained using such methods would be thrown out in a court of law. The fact that some members of the police force would descend to such levels to do their work also puts at risk confessions and signed statements obtained through legitimate investigative procedures by professional police officers who work by the book and through due process.

Reports are rife of rogue cops and soldiers loaning their arms and uniforms, even wearing them themselves to commit robberies and sometimes even murders; of police freeing criminals from lockups to commit robberies then sharing in the spoils because of the alibi they provide the culprits, of innocent persons targeted for money, properties, or even sexual favours for fear of being falsely charged by rogue cops. The saga of the traffic ranks for whom bribes are a primary source of income is an ongoing affair, and their take rises in accordance with the fines.

It is feared that many members of criminal gangs have infiltrated the GDF and the GPF for the sole purpose of committing crimes with the full sanction of the law, and the incidents involving joint service personnel whereby robbery and murder, torture of suspects, bribery and corruption, rapes and mayhem committed against innocent citizens of the land, including children, currently surfacing in the public arena, may be merely the tip of the iceberg.

It is therefore incumbent on the honest members of the joint services, who are committed to their profession and their mandate of service and protection to the nation, who pride themselves on their professionalism, and who respect their uniform and honour the organization through which they serve their country, to say ‘enough is enough’ and take action themselves to rid our country of these scourges within society who have infiltrated their ranks and are bringing infamy to their organizations and their country and, ultimately, to each member of the joint services – innocent or guilty.