Melville Cooke 96 degrees in the shade, Real hot, in the shade
- Third World
IT IS very enlightening and expected that Police Commissioner Francis Forbes' reasons for disbanding the Crime Management Unit (CMU) did not include 27 people killed in West Kingston, seven killed in Braeton, four cut down in Kraal and Andrew Phang "getting it".
In The Sunday Gleaner of June 6, he said that the unit was not fulfilling its mandate of "targeting dons and dealing with extortion, carjackings, guns and deportees who were involved in crime". In addition, there was "every sign that they (the policemen in the unit) were highly stressed and when an operational policeman is highly stressed, he is likely to make mistakes".
One is left, of course, to wonder at the level of stress the relatives of people that the CMU has killed are feeling.
The headline of that Sunday Gleaner story read "CMU failed". It may well have read "JCF failed". For while the CMU is the most visible arm of a very violent organisation, it is by no means alone. In addition, if the Jamaica Constabulary Force's mandate is to control crime in the country, they certainly are not doing a good job.
Not with murders hitting over 1,000 a year and trotting upwards. Not with the debacle that led to FINSAC and nobody of note being brought to book. Not with lawyers being penalised for stealing on a pretty regular basis not that it is called stealing, it is always something like "breach of fiduciary duty" or something like that. Same tief.
In another sense, though, the JCF is fulfilling its mandate quite well, even if it is not the official one. The JCF was formed in response to the 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion, which was not really a rebellion but a demand for equitable sharing of land. When it was realised that these people were serious, they were slaughtered and the leaders notably, Paul Bogle (I don't know about Gordon) had their necks popped.
And then, of course, there was the panic, so the JCF was formed.
There would be no more of this "cleave to the Black" foolishness that Paul Bogle preached.
As I see it, by its roots the JCF was formed to protect the upper class and enforce the social order and it has done a pretty good job at that. Hand in hand with the political system, of course. That is why a man can get three years in prison for stealing seven mangoes, while a "white collar criminal" is in and out of the system in a flash, with the cash intact.
In the end, though, official force invariably fails, because it builds a deep resistance in people to law and order, as well as leads criminals to arm themselves to the teeth, knowing that the emphasis is not on detection and prevention, but shooting the horse after it has bolted through the gate.
PALESTINIAN PEACE
It was only to be expected, but it is sad nonetheless. A huge explosion on a bus in Israel yesterday morning put a pothole in the "roadmap to peace". This is after Israel went after another Hamas leader.
What Israel and the United States want is for the Palestinian people to be nice and co-operative and disarm, while Israel keeps its capability to kill them at will. Asking Palestinians to trust Ariel Sharon is a bit like putting Reneto Adams to run for councillor in Eddie Seaga's constituency it just ain't happening.
Taking down a couple Israeli outposts in Palestinian territory is nothing. They can go back up faster than they went down and more, too. What passes for the international press has long taken to calling Hamas and Islamic Jihad "terrorists" and "extremists". If these "terrorists" and "extremists" did not exist, Sharon and co. would have long settled the Palestinian question in their preferred fashion kill as many as they wish and run out the rest.
It is a very foolish person who expects those who have slaughtered their people to change overnight and the Palestinians would be stupid to give up their ability to retaliate in some way.
Of course, the Israeli approach also illustrates the futility of force, as they have not been able to achieve their objective of stealing more of Palestinian land. And there seems to be no end in sight to the supply of suicide bombers.
Melville Cooke is a freelance writer.
