THE EDITOR, Sir:
I HAVE finally gotten the courage to write on the brutal killing of the Braeton Seven. I have listened to reports on the findings of Amnesty International and that of the Coroners, and I ask myself "did it have to come to this?"
As a child, I was told that one is innocent until proven guilty, but lately I have again been asking myself "if this is so, then why are we not seeing it being implemented in the apprehension of so-called criminals in our society by the police?"
Which leads me to my topic. In the case of the Braeton Seven, I personally do not believe that these seven boys were saints nor do I believe that they were all guilty or innocent.
I will not in anyway try to ascertain exactly what happened on that tragic morning because there are always three sides to a story, your side, my side and the truth. And of course, "dead men tell no tales."
As I have said before, these boys were not all innocent nor were they all guilty, but couldn't the police have spared one life so we could at least have another side to this tragedy?
And this, Mr. Editor, is where I believe Amnesty International comes in.
While I have the deepest respect for the police, it is quite unfortunate that the people of Jamaica, for the most part, have lost confidence in the people who have been assigned as peace-keepers to our country. I have come to realise that the Jamaican public has much more respect for the army (who are trained to be warriors) than the police (who are trained to maintain peace).
Mr. K.D. Knight made a statement while being Minister of Security that I believed have contributed to the downright disregard for human lives by the police force and the statement was "Criminals must go six foot six, and I give the police authority to do what they have to do." My question is, who determines who is a criminal? If, God forbid, I decide to dress like a ragamuffin for a week, does that classify me as a criminal?
I don't think so, but for the police it is a good opportunity to harass and brutalise me.
Mr. Editor, I am in no way encouraging the acts of the criminal elements in our society, far from it, but the police need to regain the trust of the people and the only way they can do this is if they stop treating people as if they are dogs, and start respecting them as human beings.
I am, etc.,
AMOORE JOHNSON
Priscillamore2000@yahoo.com
Old Harbour
