By Sgt. David White, ContributorSINCE THE recent upsurge of violence in Spanish Town, I have made a statement regarding the dangers and difficulties posed by the 'zinc fence' communities. My statement was not intended to call on the police to retreat from their duty, but was intended to raise the crisis posed by these illegal communities in Jamaica the squatter, gully bank and zinc fence communities are grounds that breed criminal activities, they are dangerous to effective police patrol.
The Gleaner on February 4, 2004 carried a report of my statement under the headline, "Move to end 'zinc fence' patrols" ,and this article was complemented by the editorial of The Gleaner on February 5, 2004, 'A police retreat' The article misinterpreted my statement. Let me say, I support the motto of the JCF which is "We serve, protect and reassure". Embracing this motto and our responsibilities as law enforcement officers does not mean that we should be quiet about some of the things that make our work dangerous and difficult. We must rid this Jamaica of these illegal communities. They are the breeding ground for criminal activities and they make police work difficult. They are not amenable to effective police patrol.
We are not town planners, but are aware that some communities are illegal. These communities are not organised to facilitate police work. Additionally, zinc fence and gully bank living are part of this capturing mentality that has given rise to a new culture of the lack of self-responsibility.
URBAN DECAY
We are talking about a problem that has to do with urban decay, a problem that breeds criminals, criminal activities and pose the most serious difficulties to the maintaining of law and order. According to The Gleaner's editorial, "According to Sergeant David White, he will be lobbying rank and file members of the Constabulary to be freed from policing areas described as 'zinc fence' communities." This is a wrong interpretation of my statement. My statement is a call to the government and the entire society to begin to accept that we cannot co-exist with illegal communities.
Illegal communities are (an) invasion on the rights of the rest of society. We support the idea for each citizen to have a place to live but we cannot accept that illegal communities are part of 'civil society'. When I say civil society I mean a place in which the rule of law reigns. In these illegal communities, by and large, dons and kangaroo courts exist. This and other disorders give rise to much of the crime in this country. Members in these communities live in a culture of silence. They see and hear but they cannot speak. This culture of silence is associated with the depth of crime and violence. It is important to note that these communities are structured to fight war. We have seen some of these wars in Kingston, Montego Bay and most recently Spanish Town. Police are peace officers, not soldiers. It was against this background that I said we are not soldiers. What we see is war and fighting war is the responsibility of the army. Probably it is time for us to see the need to link town and community planning with law enforcement.
While we recognise the dangers and the difficulties we are steadfast in our duty as law enforcement officers in this country. I did not call for a retreat. I called for the entire society to look at the way in which we have organised or not organised our communities. Over the years many of these communities have mushroomed in a manner that is not consistent with proper town planning rules. It is my thinking that these illegal communities have to be transformed.
We in the Federation are most concerned about public safety. We are concerned about the condition within which our members have to work. Equally, we are concerned about the effectiveness of police work.
Sergeant White is chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation.
