One of the main challenges being faced by the police in Guyana is the politicising and glorification of crime and criminality, President Dr Irfaan Ali said.
He was at the time addressing members of the Association of Caribbean Police Commissioners (ACCP) during the opening of their Annual General Meeting at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
“For too long we have tiptoed on two important eggs in the region, the politicising of crime and criminality and the glorification of crime and criminality… when political actors and architecture see crime for political puppeteering it becomes dangerous. We must see crime for what crime is and every stakeholder, whether in government or opposition, must have the same approach to crime and criminality,” the President urged.
He related that crime and criminality must not be an opportunity to get into government, or an opportunity to beat the system since it affects every person. If the interest, he continued, is in the development of respective countries and economies, then those responsible must do what it right.
The glorification of crime and criminality is evident right here in Guyana when there was the most dangerous crime wave the country experienced, President Ali noted.
“We saw criminals’ caskets being draped with the national flag; we saw leaders of political parties speaking on the platform of those criminals’ funerals. And then everybody took a cue, glorifying criminality and criminals. We saw the glorification of criminals by persons who ought to know better. There is no freedom fighting in anyone who breaks the rule of law,” the state leader said.
He warned that these acts of glorifying crime and criminality only make the work of law enforcement difficult.
