D.K. Duncan IT IS early Saturday morning and the community of Flankers and indeed all Jamaica wake up to the sound of gunshots and another round of extra-judicial killings. The community is deeply saddened and angry. At the heart of their response to the police action is the continuing lack of trust. There can be no doubt that there is a basis for this. Central to this lack of trust is the continuing lack of respect demonstrated by significant sectors of the State for the people.
In relation to the Security Forces, there is a grave danger that it is becoming more and more difficult for them to regain the trust if people continue to see them as purveyors of injustice.
In respect of the political leadership, Recommendation No. 1 of the report of the National Committee on Crime and Violence calls for them to "recommit to a set of values and a code of conduct consistent with the vision of a safe peaceful and prosperous Jamaica".
LOCAL EXPERIENCE
A significant section of the citizens of Flankers do not believe that they will get justice. They base this on their own experience. They do not expect that the persons who killed David Bacchus and Cecil Brown as well as injuring Audrey Stephens will be charged for the crime. Even if they are charged, conviction is a remote possibility. In any case, it is not unusual that years pass before anyone is charged. The citizens of Flankers like many other communities in Jamaica have grown accustomed to delay after delay. They know the real meaning of the maxim - "justice delayed is justice denied".
Like the citizens of Kraal in Clarendon they have felt the pain resulting from extra-judicial killings. Like Kraal the victims of the brutal shootings in Flankers cannot be identified as being young men between ages fifteen to thirty. Women died in Kraal, elderly men died in Flankers. Nobody is willing to buy a story that they were gunmen. Therefore, they are alleged to have been killed in a cross-fire.
In Braeton, the seven young men more closely fit the spurious profile of 'gunmen'. On that basis, elements in the society endorsed their killings ignoring the extra-judicial approach used. Sooner or later, the penny will drop. It is not only the individual leaders of the Special Squads or Special Operations who are to take responsibility. Those who support this approach to crime and violence must also do so. Braeton in the East, Kraal in the Centre and Flankers in the West. All of this while ignoring the major recommendations of the real Report of the National Task Force on Crime.
EXTERNAL VALIDATION
The citizens of Flankers like elsewhere do not trust the investigative arms of the Security Forces. The majority of these investigations experience a slow, silent death. When they hear that a largely foreign-led investigation of the Kraal incident may not only be productive but also timely their cynicism is bolstered.
In addition, the report of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions on Jamaica further consolidates this cynicism and justifies this lack of trust. At the invitation of the Government the U.N. Mission conducted its investigation in February of this year. The Gleaner reported some of the findings:
From 1999 to January 2003, the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI) documented 531 fatalities due to police shooting. Out of these, the Director of Public Prosecutions ruled that 200 cases should be submitted to the Coroner's
Court. 46 were returned, all with the ruling that the case is not fit to go to trial.
According to the Ministry of National Security a total of 23 police officers were ruled to be charged for either murder or manslaughter. Out of these 23 police officers, seven had been acquitted, and six had deserted. The cases of the remaining 10 had, at the time of writing, not been concluded.
SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR
The Special Rapporteur did not receive or obtain information about any police officer or soldier who had been convicted for extra-judicial killings.
The citizens of Flankers know why they want travel documents withdrawn. They know that the BSI, based on recent performance, is not likely to report for months. They know that the Police Public Complaints Authority has limited resources. They know that the DPP's office has no known time constraints as to when it makes its rulings. By the time they rule and the Coroner's Court sits witnesses have either died, absconded, moved on or lost interest. The Jamaica Justice Report of 2002 a publication of Jamaicans For Justice provides a litany of delays and flawed investigations.
Where there is no respect, there is no trust. Justice becomes the victim.
A dental surgeon, Dr. D.K. Duncan is a former General Secretary and Cabinet Minister in the PNP Administration of the 1970's.
