Deosaran: Alliance of gangsters, politicians undermines cops

Prof. Ramesh Deosaran
PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB
Prof. Ramesh Deosaran PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB

Politicians giving State contracts to criminals undermine the operations of the Police Service, the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on National Security yesterday heard from criminologist Prof Ramesh Deosaran.

He said such “Frankenstein” alliances must now end. The JSC interviewed the Deosaran-chaired manpower audit committee into the Police Service. The committee’s report was recently laid in the House of Representatives.

Deosaran said various chambers of commerce and the Director of Public Prosecutions had complained such alliances undermine police performance.

“The time has come to take a serious review of the alliances between politicians and gang-members, so-called community leaders. The issue is serious enough because with that kind of alliance you create a monster, an evil monster that has turned into a Frankenstein which puts the security services and the public generally on the defensive.”

Deosaran said under successive governments, these alliances subverted the police who get “caught in the middle of this horrendous, growing Frankenstein.” JSC chairman Fitzgerald Hinds sought details. Deosaran said, “When you have these alliances, for example in a specific case, engineering certain contracts for appeasing potential or current criminals, I think when the police investigate a crime committed by any one of such criminals, the police get either sidetracked or obstructed in several ways.”

Saying such criminals are almost untouchable, he lamented these alliances have existed so long.

“It has continued and it does affect effective policing, in terms of the police initiating an investigation on such people and there is quite often political intervention. The target group feels so empowered as to even challenge the police in executing their duty.”

Also on the audit committee, ACP Harold Phillip told the JSC, “Historically there’s always been a perception that between governments, some of those persons who are in fact leaders of criminal groups seem to be rewarded in many ways in terms of government contracts. They invest quite a substantial number of their resources into criminal activities.”

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