President tells officers; “shoot to kill, if someone points a gun at you”.- Police Officer’s Annual Conference

Officer's Mess, Eve Leary, G/town– In his feature and last address as President to members of the force, Bharrat Jagdeo said there must be unambiguous support for the police force and that once your life is threatened you must defend it at all cost. Referring to the crime wave during 2002 and beyond, the President said;"I know this is going to be controversial, but I have no regret in saying it over and over again that if someone points a gun at you shoot to kill". He alluded to criticisms made by a human rights organization against him about this statement, saying ;" How can you respect these humans rights when they operate like animals and are bent on killing innocent people, like those in the Lusignan Massacre". He told a large gathering of past and present high ranking officers that there seems to be a tremendous amount of double standards and people felt that as President, he should have met with the criminals and broker a deal." People who are murdering the innocent, babies shot while lying in their beds, I must meet with them to broker some kind of peace, I said no". The President said that some other time when he demit office he will talk about his administration's failure to bring an early clean up to the Buxon crime situation. "There were people including some in high office in the police force who had different agenda, and  how they counter mandate instructions that could have led to an early capture and elimination of the jailbreak criminal gang". He said that because of these issues, officers involved in the 3 day conference should always strife to be professional and avoid being like some who now have blood on their hands.