THE Bartica Police Station has been called out for its complete unresponsiveness to incidents being reported to it, leaving residents without protection in time of need. One of the most recent incidents was brought to light by Minister within the Ministry of the Presidency, Simona Broomes.
President of The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), Rickford Burke, in a statement, related his feelings on the conduct of the Bartica Police stating that every Guyanese has the right to be able to rely on the country’s police force to come to their aid in their time of need, and that the citizens also have a right to call out the police force when its ranks are refusing to perform as they should.
“Every Guyanese has a responsibility to condemn as well as take serious action to curb this plague of violence that is destroying our society. Minister Broomes did the right thing by exposing this abuse and the Police incompetence. This issue also potentially exposes a male chauvinistic culture in our society and in the Police Force, which impacts this crisis,” stated Burke.
Burke is also calling on Minister of National Security, Khemraj Ramjattan and Police Commissioner Leslie James to take action to ensure that the Police at Bartica demonstrate efficiency and competence in the discharge of their constitutional mandate to serve and protect citizens of Bartica.
Burke further stated that persons within the Guyana Police force should be held responsible for their actions along with the superiors of those persons, to ensure that the GPF serves its citizens as best as possible.
“Moreover the alleged Police incompetence is an abomination that must be addressed now. There must be consequences. F Division Commander, Senior Superintendent Kevin Adonis, must be held to account for the incompetence in his command. If he cannot protect and serve the people of Bartica, he must be transferred. If the Police refused to respond to an emergency call from a Minister of government, one can only imagine how the Police treats ordinary citizens,” Burke stated.
During a telephone interview with Commander of ‘F’ Division of the Guyana Police Force, Senior Superintendent Kevin Adonis, he related to the Guyana Chronicle that the information he received from the ranks on duty at the time, is that officers had responded to Minister Brooms’ call in a time-efficient manner.
He further went on to explain that it was an allegation that was made by the minister and it will be investigated to see if the ranks on duty actually responded in a correct and acceptable manner.
When asked about any possible disciplinary actions that may be taken against ranks who are found to be refusing to carry out their duty as law enforcement officers, Adonis Added that “there are systems in place that govern disciplinary actions against ranks who negate their duties or misuse their power while on duty. If the allegation made by the minster is found to be true, following the investigation, the ranks will be met with the appropriate action as governed by the Guyana Police force.”
Minister Broomes, on Monday, took to her Facebook page to express her disappointment in the responsiveness of the law enforcement ranks who were on duty at the time she reported an incident.
According to Broomes, she heard a young lady calling for help and she called the Police station that ‘sits’ 5 minutes away from her home to request that an officer go to the scene and ensure that the young lady was safe.
“I heard this woman screaming for help in a different tone and language. She is screaming for help in Portuguese or Spanish and immediately I picked up the phone and called the police. I said `Officer good morning, my name is Simona Broomes, and I am the minister within the ministry of the Presidency. I would like to report somebody is screaming for help just outside of my house in the bush in the West Indian Housing Scheme,” said Broomes.
She further went on to state that after waiting some time she decided to render assistance to the young lady herself. After waiting over an hour to get any assistance from the police ranks at the station and after she noticed no officer had gotten to the scene to render assistance the Minister went to the police station to ascertain why no officer had come to the scene. At which point the officers related that some officers had just left with two females and that may be the incident the Minister was reporting.
