Double zero police or not?

Melville Cooke

I FIND the grandstanding and nit-picking in the probes into the Braeton mass killing a bit tiresome. I fear that while we dot the 'i's and cross the 't's on the facts, such as they can be we are missing the point. The issue at hand in the Braeton Coroners Inquest is not only whether murder was committed by agents of the state, but more importantly, whether we shall allow said agents to kill with impunity.

We have already decreed that policemen and soldiers can beat a man of unsound mind until he defecates through his mouth and then dies. We have already mandated that Government workers can beat, shackle and cart citizens off to distant points of the country. So, shall we give the police the licence to kill? Shall we have, to borrow Mr. Fleming's terminology, zero zero police? There are many who will argue, and I cannot fault them, that some members of the force have already taken that liberty and are enjoying the rights and no responsibilities it affords them. But, much like the 'Zekes' riots, this case is a cross-roads in Jamaican history. If we find that there was no foul play at 7th Seal Way on March 14, then the police have carte blanche to 'deal with bway' case. If we find that a heinous deed was done before day that Saturday and hold a person or persons responsible for it, then we will have made a tiny step on the intergalactic journey back to some semblance of lunacy in the land of blood and water.

I have not encountered a single person in the few heated debates that I have been in on the issue (including that first loud one in the Gleaner's Western Bureau) who believes that there was a semblance of a shoot-out that day. Those who propose the moot, be it resolved that all suspected criminals shall be shot in the head at close range, sometimes after being handcuffed and beaten argue that 'dem fi dead', cause 'dem is too wicked'. Maybe. But who is the 'dem'? If a 17-year-old boy is to be executed for killing someone, shouldn't the person who gave, loaned or sold him the weapon he used to commit the act die as well? And shouldn't those who have encouraged tribal politics to the extent of handing out guns, which in large measure has created the 'dem', die as well?

Crime Mortality Unit

I have no problem with 'dem' getting a wake-up call from the Crime Mortality Unit, as long as it is all the 'dem' and not just the little sprats. With nearly 70 per cent of Jamaica's children growing up in single-parent homes, we are breeding shottas much more quickly than every special squad, from the Jump Out of my childhood to the Acid I saw with dead men in a jeep outside a dance on Grove Road, can exterminate. We do not, however, have that many masterminds. Even if we look at it from the point of using bullets efficiently, it makes more sense to dam the head of the stream than to set buckets at the banks.

We do not need any Echo Squads or Special Anti-Crime Task Forces. We need a justice system. One that works not only for those who can afford to rent a QC, but those who do not have much money. There cannot be many boys whose first criminal act is murder. Where was the justice system when he was picking pockets, or jacking cars, or breaking into houses? I do not buy the argument that killing a compulsive murderer saves the lives of his or her potential victims. What about those who were killed after the first one?

In all this talk about extrajudicial killings, we have seemingly forgotten that the Jamaican police have an abysmal investigative record. Now, this may be incompetence (about 10 per cent), poor equipment (20 per cent), political patronage of criminals (70 per cent) and corruption in the force (can we get to 150 per cent?). I wonder how the police do it, get up and fight crime in a country where the criminality has been and is endorsed by significant numbers and members of those who form the Government and the Government-in-waiting.

If I may take the liberty of quoting Mr. Adams' reported testimony at the probe into the West Kingston violence in July this year: My analysis is that Government(s) over the past 20 to 30 years have failed to take the necessary actions to abate problems (crime). They don't have the political will. Some people are weak to act (because) they have a tunnel vision.

That is hardly inspiration for a policeman or woman to leap out of bed, looking forward to a day at the office.

Footnote: At the tail-end of the North-East St. Ann by-election, I had reason to visit the Shades Nightclub in Ocho Rios (business, business). I had a close-up view of an élite police squad in action. Have you ever seen a policeman in denims get a lap dance from a go-go in a packed club while one of his colleagues stands at the door toting a mean looking weapon? Well I have.

Melville Cooke is a freelance writer.

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