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ACP Green and corruption in the police force
raulston nembhard stead6655@aol.com www.drraulston.com
Saturday, October 31, 2009
It is no secret that there are corrupt cops in the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Police commissioners in the past have spoken to this reality. The present commisioner laid out as his top priority his determination to weed out corrupt and criminal elements when he assumed leadership of the force.
His desire to do so seems to have come up against a roadblock with the political directorate and he needs to tell the country what really is affecting his efforts. The majority of well-thinking Jamaicans are behind him in this laudatory effort to rid the force of corrupt cops. But we need to be told the truth so that we can give him the support he needs.
Assistant Commisioner of Police Les Green is now embroiled in controversy with members of the Police Federation regarding remarks he made about police officers being involved in criminal activities. He said that the killing of some police personnel resulted from their involvement in criminal activities. Generally speaking, it is one thing to prove that members of the force are involved in criminal activities. The burden of proof becomes more onerous when you shoot the accusation at a smaller group (about 140 since 2007) of police that have been killed. You are saying that among those killed are criminal elements. This is a narrower pool of police and so it increases the burden on the accuser to really attest to the fact that there are indeed criminals in this group.
What evidence does ACP Green have that this is in fact so, and if he has evidence should he not let us know so that the matter can be put to rest? This is indeed difficult, for the "accused" are not in a position to defend themselves - they are dead. If such proof cannot be provided then the assistant commissioner would have spoken out of turn and owes the entire force, the families of the deceased policemen and indeed the nation an apology. However inclined we may be to believe the assistant commissioner, let us remember that even if they were alive to answer to whatever charges of criminality, they would still be the subjects of that cardinal principle of law that they are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
In the meantime, the standoff between ACP Green and the police federation has come as a distraction in the fight against crime. Recently, two ministers of governmemt (Mr Bartlett and Mr Samuda) expressed disgust at the rising crime levels in Jamaica. Their disgust stemmed from the perceived problems which violent crimes represented for their respective portfolios; in the case of Mr Bartlett, tourism, and for Mr Samuda investment and growth in the economy.
If they are frustrated, then what should the rest of us think? The two ministers are members of the Cabinet and of the government in power. The government holds the levers of power and is therefore expected by the people of Jamaica to bring the crime problem to manageable levels. I am not prepared to cut any government any slack when it comes to winning the fight against crime. They have been given authority by the people of Jamaica to deal with the problem and we expect them to use this authority with wisdom and boldness in doing the people's business, or get out of the kitchen.
I am not saying that they should use raw power and might to fight the problem. We have seen in the past that such tactics do not work. As we know, the problem is multifaceted but succeeding governments, including this one, have not demonstrated the will to really do what is necessary to address the problem. There is a lot of talk but little action. If there is action we have not seen any lasting results to convince us that these actions are bearing fruits. What we see is that criminals have become more emboldened, communities are under siege, fear has gripped the land as ordinary Jamaicans cower in their caged homes, investment and
tourism prospects are being horribly compromised, and we are inching step by step towards a failed state.
The JLP manifesto spoke, for example, of plans to dismantle the garrisons. One of the most defining characteristics and greatest ironies of the present prime minister's ascension to power is that he was elected in the constituency which was described as the "mother of all garrisons" by the present commissioner, This characterisation may not be true, but it does epitomise the government's lacklustre approach to a problem that has been identified in too many reports as one of the reasons for the perpetuation of criminal activity in
the country.
One of the problems we suffer from in this country is an inability or downright refusal to tell or face the truth. The absence of truth-telling runs the full gamut of the society. Speaking the truth or doing what the truth requires means a willingness to change and go in a decisively new direction. This is where the rub is because people who benefit from falsehoods and obfuscations are not prepared to change course, even if changing means doing what is right. Furthermore, one is subject to ridicule for standing up for what one believes, and unless one is a Greg Christie or a Danville Walker, one is prepared to swim along with the easy-moving stream without realising that a gorge awaits downstream. Until we face the truth of where we are as a country and how we got there, we will not begin the long climb up the mountain of prosperity.
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