How did Debbie Ramsingh die? Was she murdered, or did she drown? What blame should the officers at Debe and Barrackpore police stations take for her death? These are some of the questions that flashed across my mind when I read about the death of this young mother of a two-year-old daughter.
Ramsingh fell into a river while trying to get away from a gang that pursued her in the dark along the river bank. The trouble started when Ramsingh refused to dance with a man at the “Big Apple” club in Debe. She was assaulted by a gang of seven men who chased her outside. Some of the men caught her brother Randy and tried to drown him, but he managed to escape with the help of his brother, and then they ran straight to Debe Police Station to seek help for their sister (who they thought was hiding from her attackers in the bushes).
Debe Police Post is less than a minute’s drive from the scene of the crime. The brothers begged the police to return with them, so that they could find their sister. They were told the scene of the crime was “outside of their jurisdiction,” and were, instead, directed to Barrackpore Police Station.
Forty-five minutes later, the desperate brothers arrived at Barrackpore Police Station. The two officers on duty refused to leave and bluntly told the men that their sister “had probably run away with a man, and was in a house with the same men who chased and attacked her.” With no help from the police, the Ramsingh family searched endlessly, until Debbie’s lifeless body was found.
Our new and well-intentioned acting Commissioner of Police, James Philbert, came out shooting from the hips after a retreat in Tobago: “We are about service and assisting the public, and the way some officers interact with the public will no longer be tolerated,” said Philbert. Unfortunately, Mr Philbert is yet to tell us what action he has taken against the indifferent and insulting officers from the Debe and Barrackpore stations. Could they have prevented Ramsingh’s murder/death?
Two years ago, Philbert’s predecessor, Trevor Paul, had announced that police officers were not entitled to turn victims away on the nonsensical basis that the crime scene did not fall within their district. Nobody knows the boundaries of the districts of police stations. Trinidad is a tiny island, and it is expected that victims would rush to the nearest police station for assistance.
The indifferent and nonchalant attitude of police officers, who invoke arid technicalities like: “It not in our district,” has caused enough grief and suffering, and Mr Philbert should now make it clear that officers are not entitled to turn away victims on such ludicrous grounds.
The call for greater co-operation from the public by Philbert will never be heeded, unless officers change their attitude and understand that they are there to serve the public. The much-needed transformation to change the culture from arrogance and brawn to polite and sensitive customer service is yet to happen.
Every week people visit my office to complain about the attitude and behaviour of officers. My nephew was robbed recently at gunpoint in Barrackpore, when he stopped to grab a quick bite after a hard day’s work. When he visited the police station (five minutes away), the officer made fun of him, asking numerous senseless questions. The officer foolishly treated his distress as a source of amusement. His colleague indicated that it was late, and hence my nephew should come back the following day to make a report. There was no attempt to rush to the crime scene to make an effort to nab the robbers.
A bar owner was robbed at gunpoint in Reform Village, but the bag that was snatched from the owner’s hands did not contain the day’s sales, but her lunch containers. The constable on duty at Gasparillo Police Station was so insensitive that he left the victim in tears. He was rude and interrogated the woman as though she was the criminal. He demanded she disclose the value of the empty lunch containers, despite the poor traumatised woman’s pleas that she did not know the exact value of the containers, and refused to take a report.
Stories about the stupid attitude of police officers abound. Their arrogance and insensitivity have eroded public confidence, to the point where people refuse to subject themselves to further predictable trauma by going to make reports in the police station.
Unless Mr Philbert can come up with a plan to monitor the reaction, interaction and response of police officers to members of the public who visit police stations, his call for greater co-operation from the public in the fight against crime is bound to fail.
Our police stations operate like branches of the central statistical authority, where they simply record the commission of crimes, but do precious little about solving them. They seem more interested in delaying and dilly-dallying, so that criminals are given enough time to escape before they visit the crime scene. The atmosphere in the police station is cold, uninviting and unwelcoming. Victims are nervous because they seldom expect a friendly and helpful encounter with the police.
There is a proud reputation of non-service in the Police Service. Mr Philbert’s humility and tireless efforts in his short stint as police commissioner, thus far, is worthy of commendation, but talk is cheap, and action is rare and precious.
By Anand Ramlogan