By Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
A lover of fast cars, Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams at the wheel of his 2003 silver BMW. - Carlington Wilmot /Freelance Photographer
QUESTIONS HAVE been raised about the lifestyle of Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams, former head of the recently-disbanded Crime Management Unit, on his salary as a police officer.
In an interview with The Gleaner on Saturday, SSP Adams who turns 53 on July 11, explained. He said he worked hard for all that he has achieved and that work ethic was instilled in him by his mother, a teacher, and his father, who was a farmer.
He said that in 1970, three years after joining the Jamaica Constabulary Force, he saw a piece of land in Spanish Town and decided that he wanted it. "It was selling for about $30,000 at the time and I went around and beg my mother and every relative around to muster up the $15,000 to pay the man.
"However, in that time most people were selling out and running away from Jamaica. I didn't hear or see the man again until years after, and I was by then able to pay him the rest. But by then the lot was valued more than the original price.
"Then about 1979, the banks were in trouble as nobody was borrowing so to speak. I went to the bank and borrowed a small amount. People said I was crazy because Communism would take over Jamaica. But I started building my house from the first block. After the 1980 elections, it (Communism) didn't happen and stability returned to the country, and of course prices of houses and lots had appreciated," he said.
FAVOURITE COLOURS
He now owns a two-storey, four-bedroom, Georgian-style house, with the interior painted in his favourite colours pink and bone-white. The house is fully tiled in white, with his patio providing a picturesque view of Spanish Town and Portmore.
SSP Adams who has been married for 34 years, is the father of three daughters. One has a B.A. in Architecture, another is pursuing her Master's degree in Pharmacology, and the other has a diploma in institutional management.
He said that although he has no business such as bar, restaurant or club, his family was "very conscious" where money management was concerned. He cites his investments, inheritance and "proper money management" as the keys to his survival.
"The salary of a policeman is not awesome as you would have liked. But I have been a good manager where my salary is concerned. My father died in England and left a decent amount, my grandmother left about 50 acres of land in St. Elizabeth which I manage," SSP Adams said.
A lover of fast cars, he said that over the years he has acquired four cars - a Pulsar Turbo, a Chev Camarro, a V-28 fully modified, and the latest, a 2003 silver BMW. "I am not boasting but I don't sell cars," he said. He added, "That's why I currently accumulate four cars. I just love fast cars," he said, his eyes all lit up.
At this stage, SSP Adams reminisced on the days when he used to attend school barefooted, until he was 15 years old. He said that at one time he didn't have enough change of uniforms, forcing him to wear the same uniform for the entire week.
As he relaxed in his beige leather sofa, SSP Adams was asked about his favourite dish. "Steamfish and..."
"Yellow yam", his wife quickly chimed in before he could finish. SSP Adams continued: "I don't like a lot of artificial stuff, I like natural stuff."
DANGERS
Despite the dangers common to his kind of job, SSP Adams, a lover of birds and fruit trees, is not restricted in entertaining himself. "I go to jerk festival in Portland, yam festival, clubs, sometimes without my bodyguards," he said.
Asked about killings in which members of the CMU have been implicated, SSP Adams said:
"I have been called 'killer' and 'murderer'. But I have only killed one person in my whole life and that was in 1974. We went to arrest a man in Bog Walk, he drew a weapon and fired at us, we returned the fire and it was proven that the bullet that killed him came from my pistol.
"There are a few times when I have to open fire but the ballistics reports have not indicated that my weapon have killed anyone," he said.
According to SSP Adams, he was involved physically in everything within the CMU - organising, developing tactics, getting warrants and making sure his unit operated within the law. As the head of the unit he has been criticised and he has to take the blame for anything.
SSP Adams said the highpoint of his career was once, while he was going to Montego Bay, a woman in Hanover called to him saying she could sleep in peace every night. "I have never worked in Hanover before and it is really the highest point of my career achievement. It's tremendous feeling when we make someone have a sense of peace and security psychologically and not only physically", he said proudly.
