UNTIL and unless the various arms of the law cooperate in initiatives to address the crime situation in Guyana, the criminals will continue to proliferate and persecute the society.
Last Monday evening, Odel Chase, together with his accomplices, robbed a money-changer in America Street before fleeing in an apparently stolen car, or a car bought with the spoils of nefarious activities.
A vigilant police patrol chased and caught up with the four young but seasoned bandits, which ensued in a shootout during which Odel Chase was mortally wounded. However, before he succumbed to his wounds, he revealed to police ranks his accomplices that had accompanied him on this heist.
It was subsequently revealed that the car used in the getaway after the crime was committed belonged to one of the perpetrators, who tried to reclaim it on the grounds that he had been “kidnapped” and that his car had been stolen. Probably the car had been stolen from its real owners, or it was bought with monies acquired through illegal means, because none of those young men seemingly possessed the wherewithal to purchase a vehicle.
Increasingly, despite the many institutions being established by the Government to address the issue of children being left untended and youths being equipped for the job market through educational and training programmes, there are still many who prefer the “quick dollar” rather than earning their bread “by the sweat of (their) thy brow”.
And they have no qualms in taking lives in their pursuit of the good life at the expense of those who slog to achieve the things that they need.
The stories are endless – phone and purse snatchers, swindlers, trunkers, home invaders, choke and robbers; and in almost every instance the criminals are armed, inflict painful bodily harm to even children, and even kill their victims, with no thought for the wasteland of lives they leave behind.
Yet the great protestors and letter-writers are silent about these recurrent atrocities; but when these beasts in human form are accosted; and if in the course of their escape and/or arrest they are injured or die, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), the joint opposition, NGOs and media houses antagonistic to government come out to protest, either physically, or in strongly-worded letters, with no thought nor care for the victims. GHRA only represents criminals, never their victims.
Many citizens are afraid or unwilling to approach the police with information on criminal activity because, rightly or wrongly, they are convinced that police work in synchronization with the criminals. Even at the highest levels. And this fear was justified when a tape supposedly of a conversation between the chairman of an opposition party and a former police commissioner revealed cover-up of a murderous crime in which that party was implicated through that conversation.
It is widely felt that police share the spoils of criminal activity, which is underscored when police never respond, or respond in unproductive ways to calls for help from citizens in the land.
This was borne out when two popular public figures were attacked by armed bandits in their home and they escaped to the police station that is located one corner away. The police refused to respond, and the perpetrators were so confident that, despite the homeowners having escaped, with time enough to inform the police, they took their time enough to ransack the house and choose the most valuable items to cart away – on a bicycle.
If the police had responded promptly the bandits would have been caught in the act, or while they were riding away with their booty, including a very large flat-screen television.
A senior member of chronicle’s staff has photographs of police vehicles used to ferry family members, luggage to and from the airport; yet despite government continually adding to the fleet police always complain that they do not have vehicle to visit crime scenes in a timely way.
Some persons are adamant that police let criminals out of cells to commit crimes for a part of the booty, then provide them with alibis.
And when some conscientious ranks perform their duties in accordance with their mandate and arrest the bandits, sometimes at great risk to their lives, a magistrate or judge then release them on a negligible bail amount, then send them back to continue their predatory ways.
Odel Chase had three matters of armed robbery in court, once when he and another accomplice, also implicated in Monday night’s America Street heist, had badly injured schoolgirl Samantha Hollingsworth while stealing her laptop computer.  Those parents could have lost their daughter, who was pursuing her education and a better life for herself. All the young men implicated with Chase had matters of similar nature pending in court, yet they were set free, time and again, to continue their murderous and thieving activities against the law-abiding citizens of the land.
Many of these young criminals have no source of income, yet they purchase vehicles, brand-name fashion wear, jewelry for themselves, their families and their girlfriends and wives; even their female partners are participating in their criminal forays and are spending like mad and living in grand style, yet no one has ever taken the initiative to investigate the source of these monies that they spend so lavishly.
The judicial system is failing the law-abiding citizens, many of whom are left to the mercy (or lack of it) of the increasing numbers of get-rich-quick predators who merely have to decide who their next victim will be; and then pounce, fully aware that the GHRA, to opposition media and NGOs, and even the judicial systems itself would support their criminality.