DOUBTLESS, one of the biggest challenges for this government and society at large is fighting crime. The crime wave, begun before this government came to power, has continued; and politicians have traded words over who ultimately is responsible for the situation.While we appreciate that parties must engage in political rhetoric and debates, we hold the view than when crime reaches the proportions that presently obtain, partisan grandstanding must take a backseat to the national interest. In the final analysis, crime is both a national security and socio-economic security matter that consumes all of us.

Here, in Guyana, our crime wave has its origins in two places in our social landscape. First, much of it arises out of the abject poverty which still haunts the majority of our communities. There is a linkage between poverty, poor education, unemployment, and the prevalence of crime. So long as poverty is not dealt with frontally and practically, we will continue to experience higher than normal crime rates.

The second cause of high crime in Guyana is the extent to which sections of the state have become part of the criminal enterprise and political outfits have come to rely on criminals for both defence and offence. Professor Clive Thomas has referred to this phenomenon as the “criminalisation of the state.” A significant element of this has to do with the narco-industry and its penetration of both the state and poor communities.
In this regard, there are some sad truths about crime in Guyana. Our culture of official corruption breeds criminal behaviour, which trickles down into, or is emulated by, the wider society. We know that a preponderance of illegal guns on the streets is one root cause of the problem. We know that the growth of criminal gangs with connections to high places is a contributory factor in the inability of the state to combat crime. In this regard, a compromised police force is a crucial deterrent to crime fighting. The poor remuneration of police officers has been cited as also a crucial part of the problem.

At the level of the wider society, the glorification of criminals as role models has compromised our communities’ ability to be agents of crime-fighting and crime-prevention. The increased lure of material wealth drives a lot of our young people in the direction of crime, while some parents turn a blind eye to criminal activity by their children in exchange for the economic relief the loot brings. Ultimately, we seem to have incorporated accommodation with criminal activity into our survival culture.

The boldness that characterises the activity of criminals boggles the mind; it is as if we are a society without morals and laws. No individual or section of the society is immune to the effects of criminal activity in our society. The criminals act as if they have the security forces covered. Governments tend to have two attitudes to such heightened incidences of crime: deny its pervasiveness, or kill the criminal. Research has shown that nether approach yields much positive results.

We understand that, in our situation, the police feel as though the only recourse available to them is to kill the criminals on sight. Indeed, over the last few days, this is precisely what has been happening. While we recognise that, in some instances, this is the only recourse, we feel that it cannot be the norm; there still has to be respect for human rights.

To this end, we are glad that President Granger has spoken out on this issue. We believe that he is correct in favouring apprehension of criminals over their killing. As he puts it, “I would like to see due process; I would like to see persons arrested and brought before the courts, so we can find out who is the mastermind. Is there a gang leader? Are there guns, and whom are they coming from? If you kill them, you don’t know these things… And I would always put the saving of human life as a greater priority than just shooting down people; I don’t like that at all”.

For a number of larger socio-economic reasons, we have to bring crime under control. There is a relationship between crime and economic growth. Foreign and local investments do not flourish in a crime-ridden environment. Tourists stay away from areas with high crime rates. It is difficult to fight crime and defeat the Venezuelan threat at the same time.

Finally, the task of fighting crime is not just the government’s responsibility; it is a national problem that deserves a national commitment. All political parties must do more that condemning crime; they must pledge to tackle the root causes. The so-called NGOs must put crime-prevention at the top of their agendas. As our national poet cautioned long ago: “All are involved, All are consumed”.