OPINION: Calvin Brutus: A SWAT team for alleged white-collar crimes

Last Updated on Thursday, 24 October 2024, 19:26 by Writer

By GHK Lall

Get this straight everyone: I am no friend of assistant commissioner of police, Mr. Calvin Brutus. Never could be. Perhaps, it will never be. But the man is a citizen and a brother, one under siege from all points of the compass. A code adhered to is never to kick a man when he is down. Another that holds back is compassion for someone that appears to be on his way to still lower depths. The raid on his living quarters may have been necessary, but it didn’t have to be so heavy-handed, so crudely out of proportion. Some further examining of this alarming development may be helpful to every citizen.

The Guyana Police Force is well within its rights, and with proper legal backing, to conduct raids, searches, seizures, and so forth on the premises of any local inhabitant, with the possible exception of the president. Past presidents are not exempt; if they are, they shouldn’t be. Mr. Brutus has been alleged to have had some involvement in numerous white-collar crimes. The State is obligated to pursue all such matters vigorously, and Mr. Brutus has every right to constitutional protections, plus the safety of himself and property. By all accounts, he is not some dangerous desperado, a confirmed hardcase, that requires the presence of a SWAT team. It may have been intended as a show of force. In my humble opinion, it was more a show of insipidity. Was the SWAT team there to secure or was it there to intimidate? The primary purpose of the presence of SWAT teams called into action is not to procure or obscure, but to secure. In my book, it was wholly unnecessary. As a natural extension of my position, the assertion is made, the question is asked: if this can be the treatment that is meted out to an assistant commissioner of police still on the job, then what is the ordinary man in the country to expect? More searingly, what is someone who is declared to be an incorrigible renegade—a suspected anti-PPP and anti-government enemy—to expect at the hands of the powers that rule in this country, using any specious guise to get their target? To close this out, the use of the SWAT team should be limited to those situations where there is a high probability of latent or tangible physical danger existing. SWAT teams and SWAT participation in raids should be a last resort, the last roll call, because there is the belief that the situation could get out of control rapidly.

The other disturbing aspect of the Calvin Brutus intended raid was that it reportedly occurred at 20:00 hours (8 p.m.). What made that choice of hour of operation so special, so favorable to the objectives of the Guyana Police Force, whatever those were? If the element of surprise was a crucial factor, there could be some understanding, but in the instance of a still-on-the-job colleague, and one of such senior standing, a nighttime raid makes no sense. To be clear and fair, second-guessing the decisions of the high command in local law enforcement is of no benefit to the institution or the country. But there is still that element called common sense and what the surrounding circumstances demand as the best possible course of action. Would 8 a.m. or 3 p.m., have made a difference? Could either have been a better opportunity, notwithstanding the stated difficulty in finding Mr. Brutus? Okay, so it had to be at night, and 8 p.m., had its pluses. Why was there the need for a display of that overwhelming amount of firepower? There may be no message intended by either the PPP Government or the GPF operations command, but there is no helping the chilling drop in temperature.

On the third and final note, to repeat the stale and rancid, there is too much politics in the GPF. Always was, and now looks like it will always be, barring a revolutionary change of mind and heart at the right levels. Unfortunately, like Calvin Brutus, the GPF is itself under siege. So, the thinking is whether the GPF flashes its muscle to confirm its seriousness, and that it is not to be trifled with, or made to look bad. Or, if it is just blindly following orders, then that is the culture that has irreversibly taken hold. VP Jagdeo had his say which was too much. Minister Benn, the one who should have, has been as silent as a wet firecracker, which relays its own insights into how matters operate in Guyana and the Guyana Police Force. Chain of command, as it should be, but is not? Or chain of autocracy, which should not be, but not so subtly is? The hidden excesses, the covert maneuvers, the extracurricular interferences, have a way of coming to a head from time to time. In the worst way. in ways that leave everyone from the head to the shoulder looking worse for wear. There are those washing hands and keeping a safe distance from the developments in the GPF. It’s the usual story: bad times are lonely times. Assistant Commissioner Calvin Brutus is finding that out. He has become the head in which all that is wrong with policing in Guyana is dumped.