TWO horrific incidents of domestic  violence that have resulted in severe injuries to family members of one household, but tragically  resulting in deaths and injury in another, have again  brought to the surface a common complaint levelled against the Guyana Police Service –  that of failing to respond  to citizens’ telephone  calls for help,  even after there were reports made in person to the district station. The other, relates to an apparent report from a victim of domestic abuse to her local police station, that was not seriously taken, if one were to accept what the eventual victim, now hospitalised with an arm severed, and fingers similarly removed, has related from her hospital bed.

As everyone residing in Guyana and very familiar with the frequent occurrences of domestic violence, and even in unrelated incidents, these are neither unfamiliar nor isolated allegations against the Service.
Over the years, there have been reports from all sections of the Guyanese citizenry of frantically making phone calls to various police stations, to report serious incidents of crime: of their homes being invaded by armed criminal gangs resulting in family members being brutalised, and murdered; serious altercations within communities, and the type alluded to above. This must also include the well known cases of police precincts that cannot respond to reports of serious incidents, citing lack of transportation facilities.
In many of these reported instances, it is not uncommon for law enforcement to be known to visit the scene of the crime, hours, and even days, after the fact. By which time, the assailant(s) would have already made good his/their exit. Another common feature in these extreme scenarios is for statements not to be taken from the victims, quite some time after.
With regard to the now sad and all-too-frequent occurrences of domestic violence in Guyana, there are too many reports, of victims, fortunate to have escaped brutal death; and from the relatives of murdered victims, angrily revealing the many reports made to police stations, either about threats to the lives of these same  victims,  being physically battered, before the eventual  tragedy.      
 
 
Beginning with members of the public that request assistance from the Police Service, by way of telephone calls – this is abysmal, shocking, and unacceptable, especially when such calls  would be of an emergency nature, the SOS type. How does one explain this particular type of failure from a police service to respond to life and death situations, when it is expected to do so?   
It cannot be a case of lack of communication means to receive these calls, or to effect a response/acknowledgement. Certainly not! And not when the security sector has been receiving billions from the annual budget for upgrade of their response capabilities, inclusive of their communications, that is now IT driven. This is not encouraging to the subject minister who has been doing all that are possible to modernise the functions of the Police Service.  
Instead, these are cases of gross dereliction on the part of the human factor, the pivot of the daily functions and operations of any such Service. It is monumentally unfair, that such can still occur, despite all the training that has been conducted, exposing police personnel to the importance of instant response to high-voltage crime scenes, and lesser types.  The well known saying, “A stitch in time saves nine”, as it relates to being prompt to calls from citizens in dire circumstances should be well understood by the police. But as a reminder, it means being able to rescue citizens from criminal attacks, and of course, death; apprehending the assailant(s), or if not immediately at that particular scene, being able to commence the important process of crime scene investigation, that would lead to the early apprehension of the suspects.     
The same context should be applied to cases of domestic violence reports, that if one were to accept what the chopped victim said about her report to the district police station, she would not have been maimed, much less losing her only two children to the same attacker. There is a pattern in this category of cases that is all too familiar: that where these reports are treated lightly, most of the victims eventually fall to tragic death.
No police station should ever fail to act promptly on receipt of such reports, for over time, they would have been able to observe the return of such a disregarding, cavalier, and callous response. All phone calls from members of the public must also be taken, since these are about requests for assistance, as a result of criminal attacks, and other related incidents.