Opposition coalition wants probe into police crime links

The calls follow a Kaieteur News report that quoted Assistant Commissioner of Police Steve Merai as saying that a corporal and two senior officers had links to drug lords.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Friday August 19, 2011 – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), an opposition coalition formally launched last month, has called for an independent and impartial inquiry to probe recent claims that some senior police officers have ties to drug dealers.
 
And it wants those officers alleged to be involved pulled off the force in the meantime.

In a statement issued yesterday, APNU said it was dissatisfied with the official responses of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) to the crime epidemic.

“APNU demands that the PPP/C administration stops expressing concern, starts investigating the causes for such persistent criminality, removes officers of any rank found guilty of these offences and rebuilds a credible law-enforcement Force that can serve and protect the Guyanese people,” it said.

The coalition party further called for “the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the Disciplined Forces Commission and the introduction of a Security Sector Reform Action Plan in order to reform the Police Force”.
 
The calls follow a Kaieteur News report that quoted Assistant Commissioner of Police Steve Merai as saying that a corporal and two senior officers had links to drug lords.

In response to the newspaper report, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee had said that “in any part of the world where allegations of a similar nature are raised, the political person that is responsible would be concerned…It is not something that we take lightly.”

But the APNU said the situation demands more than “mere expressions of ministerial concern” and insisted that an investigation is required. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)