Peter EspeutI WAS interested in two recent news items reporting the success of the police at crime-fighting. The first concerned the apprehension of a man who had pointed a gun at a policeman last week. The policeman shot the man in his legs, captured him, and recovered the firearm. The second concerned the robbery last Monday at the Courtleigh Hotel, where, after an alleged shoot-out, three men were taken alive and a gun recovered.
In both cases, the suspects were captured alive, and I assume they will be charged and face the courts to answer the charges. They will either be found guilty and punished, or set free. This is due process. This is crime-fighting! Congratulations to the police! It goes to show that suspects in gun crimes can be taken alive if there is the will to do so!
I do not recall any reports like this in the recent past. In every case that I can recall, the suspects are taken to hospital where they are pronounced dead. Since these men are still alive, they can be questioned about the source of any guns they may know about. Is this an indication of a change in approach by the police? I hope so, for one is sorely needed.
According to Amnesty International, Jamaica has the highest rate of police killings in the world (per capita), and this is not anything to be proud of. Even if Amnesty International is wrong and we are not Number 1, we can't be far behind, and no one - least of all the Commissioner - should be happy with the situation. He should be the first to be concerned at the high numbers. Jamaica cannot be so different to the rest of the world that we have to shoot down our own citizens to control crime.
The high number of police killings in Jamaica suggest to me that there may be problems with police methods, problems with on-the-ground supervision of field operations, and problems with internal investigations of policemen by policemen. These problems need to be addressed, and quickly. Right now, the credibility of the police force is at an all-time low. When the police claim that the other people fired first and they only returned the fire, or when they claim that there is a shoot-out, or when they claim that they find guns or ganja on someone, a large number of Jamaicans do not automatically believe them.
Judging by a recent statement coming from the Prime Minister, even he believes that there are difficulties. In the past, in response to increased crime, special squads have been formed, such as the one now headed by SSP Reneto Adams. I believe that to restore the credibility of the police, a special unit needs to be formed to investigate allegations against the police. So little comes out of investigations under the present arrangements that it is clear something different has to be done.
I do not understand how police and soldiers can beat someone to death, and no charges at all can be laid because the police themselves refuse to say who exactly was involved. Does not a policeman have a duty to provide the evidence? Does a policeman not face a charge of dereliction of duty if he is witness to a crime and fails to give evidence? Why is it that the police can break the law and get away with it?
In the United States of America they have different layers of investigative agencies which can be called upon to investigate one another when wrongdoing is suspected: the State Police can be asked to investigate suspected malfeasance in a city police force, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) can be asked to investigate the State Police; and the Justice Department will investigate the FBI.
In the United Kingdom, Scotland Yard can be called in to investigate the London Constabulary or the Yorkshire Constabulary in the face of a complaint. But in Jamaica we have only one civilian investigative agency - the Jamaica Constabulary Force - and there is no other agency to call on to investigate them in the event of an incident such as the Braeton killings.
An agency equivalent to the FBI or the Justice Department needs to be established in Jamaica; nothing less will suffice to make justice manifestly appear to be done. Its jurisdiction must include the power to subpoena police documents and firearms, and the power to interrogate police officers who are suspects or witnesses. It must have the internal capability to assess crime scenes, and to perform forensic and ballistic investigation. To protect its credibility, this new agency must not employ any former policemen. If they believe they are innocent of wrongdoing, the police should be the ones calling for genuinely independent investigations to clear their names and to restore their credibility.
Well-thinking Jamaicans (recent events have shown me that there are much fewer of these than I previously thought) must insist on genuinely independent investigations of police homicides to erase the international bad name we are getting as a country which does not respect the human rights of its own citizens.
The police have the ability to do the right thing when apprehending persons suspected of crimes, as events in the last week have shown; congratulations to them! And I hope the new trend continues. And our political leaders have the opportunity to do the right thing in the face of escalating crime and alleged police excesses. I hope they have the will to do what is right.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is Executive Director of an environment and development NGO.
