The Police service

08.June.07

“Police Week” concludes this weekend bringing an end to the activities organized for this purpose. The week could not have come in more difficult circumstances, both for the country as a whole as well as for the Police.{{more}} It has fallen in the context of a spate of killings and horrific acts of violence necessitating a heavy police presence in some quarters of the capital and straining the reserves of the law enforcement officers to uphold law and order in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The police are being placed in a virtual “no win” situation. Loud cries from the law-abiding public to “do something” about this upsurge in violence and fratricide on one hand, and criticisms for their handling of the situation on the grounds of infringements of the civil rights of citizens and human rights violations. How should they react in this ticklish situation? How to confront those bent of displaying blatant disregard not only for the law but also for life and limb?

Yet that is the unenviable task facing them and they cannot shirk their duties. The police must walk the thin line between the proverbial “love and hate”: reassuring the public that law and order will be upheld while also ensuring that in the process the individual rights of the citizens are respected. Hostility to inquiring journalists, restrictions on the right of citizens to move about freely and unwarranted acts of police brutality will not endear the police to the citizency.

There are attitudes on both sides which have a historical root. After all, our Police” Force” is a product of colonialism, originally created as an arm of the colonial ruling class and the white massa to keep “the natives in check.” In this process, aimed with colonial legislation of repression and with a blank cheque to cover wanton acts of violence, the police have built up a reputation among the poorer sections of the population as being “anti-people.” This is unfortunate since it is from this same group that the police are drawn, it is just that their indoctrination and orientation over the years have given rise to their attitudes and credence to these accusations.

We however, while cognizant of this historical reality, need to change it. The accession to independence did not bring about this change, yet now more than ever it is an imperative of the times. Barrister Saboto Caesar may be correct in his assertion on a recent radio programme that constitutional changes may be necessary to create the enabling environment for harmonious police-public relations. That will give the framework, the skeleton but the flesh needs to come from education to change attitudes, clear disciplinary measures against those officers guilty of violating the rights of citizens and measure taken by the government to improve working and living conditions of police officers. Disgruntled officers armed with weapons and the power of repression is a volatile mix. And we can start with a simple symbolic gesture; change the name to POLICE SERVICE, not force.