Peter Espeut DO YOU notice how police killings have dramatically decreased since the arrest of six policemen for the murder of the Braeton Seven? The announcement of the impending arrest was made on October 31, and they went to court to get bail on November 11. Can you believe that over the last two weeks, no policeman has killed anyone under questionable circumstances? (There have been three police killings, but none has aroused questions). Can anyone recall any two-week period in Jamaica's recent history when not one questionable police killing has taken place? Remarkable!
Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. When hundreds of persons are killed by the police and nothing comes of it, a certain signal is sent to policemen islandwide: let not the law be a shackle for you. When policemen are arrested for murder, a different signal is sent. A few weeks ago I blamed the government (particularly the Minister of National Security and the Commissioner of Police) for the hundreds of police killings over the last few years because they failed to send the right signals. It is early days yet, but I feel vindicated!
There is no statute of limitations on murder. I believe that the case files on some of the previous questionable police killings should be reopened, the most glaring of which for me is the case of Michael Gayle, a mentally retarded man who was beaten and kicked to death on the street by soldiers and police. The persons present are known, and yet no one has been charged, even for being an accessory to murder? Patent injustice!
ENFORCE PUNISHMENT
There is an important principle here, which has much wider application. When punishment for crime is not enforced, it encourages further crime. The way to reduce crime is to detect and enforce punishment, and the demonstration effect will trip in. When lawbreakers believe that there is a good chance they will be caught and charged and brought before the courts, they will think more than twice before committing more wrongdoing. When they believe there is little chance of being detected, caught or charged, they will feel free to carry on.
This was the main reason we suffered widespread electoral fraud for so long. Despite open voting, notorious ballot box stuffing and the like, very few persons were ever charged for electoral fraud, even though the election day staff were known, and indeed were paid for their day's work. A clear signal was sent. They knew they had the protection of their political patrons, and even as the system was changed to make it harder to 'bogus', the political powers protected their supporters from arrest for their previous crimes. Now with stricter procedures, with the police ordered to enforce, and with CAFFE looking over their shoulders, a different signal has been sent, and electoral fraud has never been lower.
The same syndrome may be observed with environmental crimes like overfishing and deforestation. Probably only 20 per cent of active fishers have a valid fishing licence, and with no enforcement of the laws, a signal is being successfully sent; and the fishers respond to it: we have the most overfished waters in the Caribbean and probably in the world! To cut trees on government land requires a permit, and I am advised that few if any are given.
DEFORESTATION
With no enforcement of this requirement, a signal has been successfully sent; and the woodcutters have responded: according to some sources (which the government challenges) recently we had the highest rate of deforestation in the world! We may have laws forbidding the discharge of sewage into rivers, streams and the sea, but the government is the biggest polluter in Jamaica, incapable of enforcing its own laws on itself, and that sends a big signal.
Indeed, the loopholy environmental legislation we have sends loud signals! Any size of fishpot mesh is OK! Seine nets are legal! Clearcutting is all right! Mangroves are mosquito-infested swamps better to be filled in! The under-funding of National Parks, Marine Parks and other protected areas is a clear signal of the lack of priority of natural resource management. The very lack of urgency with which government approaches environmental matters sends the loudest message of all!
I hope that the reduction in police killings over the last two weeks which I hope is not a temporary phenomenon can be a learning experience for all of us. If we make serious efforts to enforce our laws, and actually make a few arrests, compliance will increase and crime will be reduced. This lesson comes too late for the hundreds of persons killed by the police over the last decade: they cannot be brought back to life. But hopefully it will be not too late for our fisheries and forests which, through proper natural resource management, can be revived. There is some hope for the future, after all!
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is Executive Director of an environment and development NGO.
