CLAREMONT, St. Ann:
CHAIRPERSON FOR Jamaicans For Justice, Susan Goffe, has defended her organisation against those who she says, are of the view that it is anti-police and only speaks about victimisation of civilians by the police and not about the killing of police personnel.
Mrs. Goffe was speaking to students at Moneague College on Friday.
She said this was not true, "because when police are killed in the line of duty we do in fact make sounds."
The JFJ chairperson noted that the police was regarded as a part of the justice system and was essential, "if we are going to have a system based on law and order."
She, however, pointed out that there was imbalance of power, where agents of the state carry out wrongs and many feel intimidated in trying to deal with the problem.
She added, "we do not believe every police case is unjustified and we often state this.
Mrs. Goffe called for a system which would properly investigate and bring evidence to the court before decision was made, as it was found that in a lot of cases this was not done.
She deplored the incident at UTech, where a man was killed based on accusation of breaking into a vehicle, as no opportunity for evidence to be presented existed and suspect couldn't mount a defence.
Touching on the constitution, she said, each person was presumed innocent until proven guilty and that has to form "part of the bedrock of our society."
"Unfortunately, ours is a society where we are willing to do away with people. We have a responsibility to protect the rights of citizens in our society," she declared.
Mrs. Goffe urged the students to get involved, by standing up and doing something, by being a part of the solution, as we can't depend on "government, them or somebody."
"Hold people responsible when it does not happen. If you don't do it, nobody else will. Good men be silent and even flourish, silence can be deadly. If we remain silent when evil things are happening then we give it our approval," she said.
She told the students that to bring about change, they didn't have to be a member of JFJ, but could do so through sports, community, student and church groups, but not through silence.
Mrs. Goffe spoke on a wide range of issues which JFJ was involved in and then fielded questions from the students.
