LESS THAN a fortnight ago the Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, dismissed the notion that there was any conspiracy to kill members of the Police Force.
In an interview with a Gleaner reporter he said there was no evidence to suggest that the three policemen killed in the three weeks prior to June 23 had been targets of planned attacks.
Dr. Phillips cited the case of Sergeant Edmond Brown who was killed in Bog Walk, St. Catherine, at a police roadblock set up to intercept a stolen motor vehicle. Detective Inspector Rupert Gardener was killed while transacting business in a cambio in Montego Bay.
The third victim, Detective Corporal Erro Bell, was shot in a bakery in downtown Kingston as he attempted to foil a robbery, and was targeted for his gun.
The Minister's reaction to the latest killings suggest that he has changed his mind. The manner of the three latest killings has convinced him that a pattern of conspiracy is emerging. The most blatant of course was the death of Detective Joshua Graham, shot repeatedly at point blank range in a marked police car, which had stopped at a traffic light intersection uptown.
Such execution-style killings send ominous signals which the Minister himself seems to be articulating. As Minister of National Security he has to answer to the nation for the efficiency of the security forces.
But he also has to be mindful of the pressures policemen have to face in containing the high levels of crime which now beset the nation much of it emanating from drug trafficking.
Simultaneously, there are also people protests that have greeted some of the killings attributed to the police themselves. All this amounts to a dangerous sense of anarchy and fear pervading the society.
Dr. Phillips has urged the policemen not to succumb to the pressure. We support his appeal and add an urgent call to the leadership of the Police Federation to reinforce it by invoking the professionalism that police officers should now show. Vengeance is not an option for officers of the law.
Law-abiding members of the public must also support the police. Those with evidence relating to the senseless killings must come forward to help defend the nation.
