A cold, dastardly and treacherous game
Mr Owen Ellington, even as he waits to be officially appointed police commissioner, has his job seriously cut out for him. And this is despite the admirable work put in by Mr Les Green and Mr Justin Felice to clean up the police force.
We refer to the apparent commandeering of police resources for personal and private purposes, in a cold and dastardly attempt to set up persons in the Sandals Resorts, and the recent discovery of a huge arms cache stolen from the police armoury.
These events, which are only two of many, go to the core of the safety and security of the Jamaican nation and must give sleepless nights to the citizenry who depend on the police.
What is worse, in the case of Sandals, is that the information which is coming together rapidly, is firmly suggesting that among the key elements in this very dangerous game, are persons with deep connections within the police force, having worked there in the past.
We are not shy about admitting that we run the risk of being accused of parochialism, because this newspaper is a member of the group of companies of which Sandals is also a member. But we are confident that all well-thinking Jamaicans will look beyond the personal, to grasp the clear and present danger posed by a most cynical act of corruption involving our police force, and the potential embarrassment of our country.
Over two Sundays, both the Observer and the Tribune newspaper in The Bahamas, ran stories of the attempt to smear Sandals bosses by persons, hopefully soon to be unmasked, who sent a so-called tip — purportedly from Jamaican narcotics police to Customs in the sister Caribbean country — that contraband was aboard a Sandals plane.
The plane had left Montego Bay via Kingston for The Bahamas, en route to Puerto Rico, to join American Airlines representatives for the first of 10 mercy flights organised by both Sandals and American Airlines to fly relief supplies into earthquake-ravaged Haiti, with Sandals executives and journalists on board.
This was after Sandals security protocol, we were assured, had insisted on the most thorough search and check of the aircraft at the Norman Manley International Airport, utilising sniffer dogs, prior to departure to Exuma, one of the Bahamaian islands where Jamaican-owned Sandals has just purchased and opened a hotel.
Like the search in Jamaica, that in Exuma turned up absolutely nothing. But the search of an aircraft by itself is not a problem. We note that Sandals operates one of the most extensive and expensive aircraft security protocols to ensure the integrity of its planes, which are often put at the disposal of senior Caribbean leaders.
But it gets even worse because the information is also suggesting that not all the persons involved in the search in Jamaica can be accounted for, and the missive to The Bahamas was based on instructions from someone who was not personally involved in the aircraft check.
All this is saying that, in the same way Mr Ellington has ordered an investigation into the shenanigans at the police armoury, this Sandals fiasco ought to be probed as swiftly as possible and the results made public. Hopefully, the culprits — whether they be Jamaicans or foreigners — will be made to pay for this unforgettable crime against the Jamaican people.
For those who might think they are insulated from such actions, a quote from John Donne’s wartime poem Meditation 17 Devotions upon Emergent Occasions should suffice: “…Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.”