By Michael Benjamin In September 1983, I enrolled for a place in the now defunct Guyana National Service (GNS) as a pioneer in the Joint Services Recruit and Orientation Course (JSROC) and was transported via MV Jaimitofrom the Kingston Wharf to Base Command Papaya (BCP), a few miles away from the infamous Jonestown commune. Other members of the other disciplined services also formed a part of the programme.Really, I was uninterested in a military career but nurtured ambitions to become a boxer. My decision to join the GNS boxing gym made it compulsory to engage in some military activities thus my trip to the Barima/Waini region on an initial six months training stint.Admittedly, despite my initial dread, I returned to Georgetown with improved military skills but still nurtured a deep seated ambition to enter the ‘square jungle.’It was during the first break, when my other ‘squaddies’ returned to their respective organizations that a senior officer, recognizing my propensity to be investigative, suggested that I switch institutions and opt for a career in policing.I passed up on the offer since as I mentioned earlier, my ambitions were riveted in ring, not jungle or civil warfare. Nevertheless, I remained interested in the vagaries of police work and my decision to become a journalist might have been hinged on the investigative propensities of the job.So it is with some amount of trepidation that I observed some members of the GPF as they addressed their duties and eventually concur that they are either poorly briefed of their respective responsibilities and duties or simply ignore them and adopt unorthodox dispositions in effecting them. I am wont to believe the latter theory since Inspector Green, who was a staff sergeant during my initial tenure in the GNS, conducts training sessions of the recruits.Many moons ago, as a little boy, I loved playing ‘Police and Thief’ a game involving a group of about 15 of us. The strongest in the group would perform the ritual of thumping each person in the chest. Those that laughed or emitted any sound were dubbed the ‘thieves’ while those that retained a serious disposition were the police officers.The ‘thieves’ would then leave for a destination nearby and commit a crime leaving certain telltale signs. The ‘officers’ would be required to ‘investigate’ using the ‘evidence’ left by the marauders to build a case and present to a judge after they would have completed investigations.Indeed, this was a fun game and no one actually realized that such activities were preparing us for a career vocation as lawmen. Some of the gang did go on to become police officers. One of them I distinctly remember,Cheap NHL Adidas Jerseys, Raphael Clarke,Wholesale Jerseys China, became a fearsome detective but died later after it was rumored that an affected criminal had ‘gone to the obeah man for him’.Those were the days when guns were few and far and police officers wielded authority with a baton, yet commanded the respect of the entire community. Those were also the days when a policeman could have been seen escorting the very young as well as the elderly across the streets.Admittedly, criminal activities were mostly confined to stealing the neighbour’s fruits or a bicycle here and a few dollars there.Nowadays, with the advent of the internet and other technological devices, crime has become a scary vocation for law enforcement officers and governments across the world are required to allocate a huge chunk of the budget towards crime fighting strategies.While other developed countries are able to implement sophisticated devices to curtail criminal activities, local law enforcement officers are constrained by limited and sometimes archaic equipment that, when compared to the tools in the criminals’ hand,Soccer World Cup Jerseys, makes a mockery of their efforts.Some time around the late eighties while in Canada I learnt of the hidden road cameras that detected speeding on the roads, clicked the offending driver’s license plate and dispatched both photo and a ticket with a specified fine to the offending driver.At the end of the year, when that driver attempts to renew his documents but failed to pay his fines, he would be refused the opportunity until he complied. The police officers are very much aware of the defaulting drivers and their vehicles’ number compliments of computerized information just near the dashboard of all police vehicles.? Risk transgressing the law and you are dead!The recent decision by the government to install cameras at strategic points around the city may be decades late but is a welcome safety feature to commuters and other law abiding citizens conducting business or other vocations in Georgetown and its environs.However, the device could be rendered ineffective if manned by incompetent or dishonest

The steady appearance of President David Granger within the Chambers of Parliament is not only historic but a sure sign of respect for the home of democracy.Prime Minister, Moses NagamootooThis statement was made by Prime Minister,NFL Jerseys China, Moses Nagamootoo, as he moved a motion in the National Assembly yesterday for Granger’s most recent speech to be debated. He also called, in his motion, for Members of Parliament to show appreciation for the remarks delivered by the Head of State.Nagamootoo said that the President in his address on October 13, last, spoke to the challenges facing the government and the plans going forward.But before delving into some aspects of the President’s address, the First Vice President sought to respond to those critics who have been questioning the President’s regular visits to the House.Nagamootoo in defence of the Head of State reminded that under the Constitution, the President comprises the parliament of Guyana, hence his appearance.The Prime Minister recalled that Granger appeared before the House three times in 2015 and then in January, May, and October of this year.“It must be historic for Guyana to have recorded in the annals of parliamentary proceedings that a sitting President would address Parliament on six different occasions within a period of 17 months,” Nagamootoo expressed.This statement earned him cheers and applause from his colleagues.Turning his attention to the content of the President’s remarks,Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic, the Prime Minister noted that Granger would periodically bring to the house,Wholesale Cheap NFL Football Jerseys, updates on the Government’s policies along with his thoughts on issues of national importance. He said that in Granger’s last six speeches, he spoke extensively on issues of national development, unity and sovereignty.PUBLIC TRUSTNagamootoo reminded that on the issue of public trust, Granger had said, “The dreams of a ‘good life’ turned into a horrible nightmare at the dawn of the new millennium. The most unforgettable experiences and most frightening evidence of our descent into chaos were the bloody, drug-driven, decade-long ‘Troubles.’ The ‘Troubles’ will be remembered as the darkest hour in our history.”Granger had said that it was a time of the un-investigated assassination of a Minister; of the investigation into the alleged implication of another Minister in the direction of a ‘death squad’; of the alleged implication of yet another Minister in the acquisition of a computer to track the telephone communication and location of adversaries targeted for assassination.The Head of State said that it was a time of arbitrary arrests; of disappearances and of torture of young men; of the surge in armed robberies, narco-trafficking and gun-running.During that first, deadly decade, Granger said that there were 1,317 murders and 7,865 armed robberies.He said, too,Wholesale Football Jerseys, that it was a time of deception and the cynical rejection of £4.9 million United Kingdom Security Sector Reform Action Plan for which a memorandum of understanding was signed in August 2007; of the rejection of recommendations of numerous security reform reports and total disregard for the implementation of the National Drug Strategy Master Plan.The President said that the evidence of the impact of the man-made criminal crisis is still visible. He said that the damage is most manifest in the demoralization of the public and security services, the erosion of public trust and the lowering of the ‘quality of life.’The President stated that the grisly security situation was accompanied by a parlous economic situation.He said, “The undermining of public infrastructure by the encouragement of cronyism led to serious, costly, serial scandals as seen in the construction the Kato Secondary School; the Hope Canal bridge; the river-front revetment at Kumaka, Barabina road and Moruca bridge; Supenaam stelling and the still unusable Ministry of Social Protection building in Georgetown.”With the aforementioned in mind, Nagamootoo said that these reflections were very significant in the context of speaking to policies for safeguarding Guyana’s future.Nagamootoo said that a sitting government should not only be judged by what it promised before getting into office but the condition of life upon the assumption of office.“We can only deliver based on inheritance,” the First Vice President stated.HUGE DEBTOn the topic of the mountain of debt government inherited, Nagamootoo reminded of some of the pertinent points captured on this subject by the President in his last address.The President had said that Government entered a depressing financial landscape in May 2015. He said that the economic legacy that this nation inherited was characteriz