White
Lloyd Williams, Senior Associate Editor
SERGEANT DAVID White, chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation, is more familiar with the mission statement of the Jamaica Constabulary than most citizens.
"The mission of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and its Auxiliaries", it states, "is to serve, protect and reassure the people in Jamaica through the delivery of impartial and professional services aimed at:-
Maintenance of Law and Order
Protection of Life and Property
Prevention and Detection of Crime and
Preservation of Peace.
"We serve, we protect, we reassure with courtesy, integrity and proper respect for the rights of all."
So, for such an influential member of the Jamaica Constabulary to suggest publicly that the police should cease patrolling (read policing) zinc fence and squatter gully bank communities of the inner cities, is surprising to the point of being unbelievable.
The mission statement to which Sgt. White subscribes, doesn't pledge service, protection and reassurance to middle-class, gated and leafy, suburban communities and posh apartment complexes only. The service, protection and assurance is to be provided to all of Jamaica zinc fence and squatter gully-bank dwellers included. They also pay GCT which goes to the salaries of all public servants including the police, and they are entitled to the full gamut of police services.
By suggesting that the police force cease patrolling the depressed communities, Sgt. White is, in effect, ceding to the dons, who are all druglords and rapists and extortioners and crime bosses, the authority of the state to enforce the laws of the land in those enclaves.
I have always argued that this type of reasoning has done much to spawn the level of lawlessness that is now afflicting Jamaica. The result is that inner-city communities such as the zinc-fenced and those on gully banks, have gone virtually unpoliced for years. So the bad people there take advantage of the weaker and the dons rule.
Add politics to the mix and the mayhem mushrooms. The murders, the rapes, the arsons, the maimings, the malicious destruction of property, are designated 'political' crimes and as such, are not investigated at all or, if they are, after the elections are over they are forgotten and the dons grow more powerful, ruthless and lawless.
MANIFESTATIONS OF THE CRIME
The zinc fence and gully-bank communities are manifestations of the crime, economic and sociological problems of the country, and the woeful neglect of these communities by the state. The real causes lie with the politicians who treat some of these communities as disposables (except at election time), and their surrogates, the dons, who to a man, live in gated communities and suburban mansions, and who often use the inhabitants of the zinc fence and gully-bank communities, as the monkey's paws to perpetrate whatever crimes they want committed. Indeed, one of the great favours the police do for some of these dons, on the rare occasion they happen to be before the courts, is to give the media their inner-city addresses, which are in fact their crime command-and-control centres, as opposed to their actual uptown residences.
It's the dons who hire the contract killers (when they don't do the actual killing, themselves) and mastermind the extortion rackets and traffic in cocaine and ganja and profit from the proceeds. The gully bank and zinc fence dwellers are mere pawns to the extent that they are involved at all duped and used by politicians and crime bosses alike.
It's hard to understand how Sgt. White can differentiate between 'policing' and 'patrolling' as there is no way you can 'police' effectively unless you 'patrol'. True, there are some formidable weapons in some of these communities, but these weapons are all over the place. And not every person who lives in these communities is a wrong-doer.
As last week's editorial on Sgt. White's comments pointed out, policemen have been murdered in the safety of their stations, the comfort of their homes, at the most crowded of intersections in the Corporate Area, far from zinc-fenced or gully bank communities, and not always by people from gully-bank or zinc-fenced communities either.
But Sgt. White, bless his brave heart and the hearts of others like him who volunteer for police service, must realise that policing is inherently dangerous. Sadly, serious danger comes with the job.
I know of no community that is designed to be "amenable to effective police patrol" or "organised to facilitate police work". And in case Sgt. White doesn't know it, there are squatter communities in Jamaica where people "capture" other people's land, then build multi-million dollar mansions on it.
And as to how Sgt. White proposes ridding "this Jamaica of these illegal (zinc fence and gully bank) communities" is beyond me.
PROGRESSIVE PROGRAMMES
So, rather than seeking to eliminate these zinc fence and gully bank communities by letting soldiers loose in them, the Jamaica Constabulary Force has to move into the 21st century with increased numbers, through forward thinking, progressive programmes, equipment and resources. The challenge to officers in the police force is how to integrate themselves into the communities they serve. For to abandon them, as Sgt. White suggests, would be to hand them over to the dons for further enslavement.
It is being recognised the world over, that heavy-handed, brute-force, soldier-type policing cannot reduce crime or stem public disorder. Increasingly, the trend is toward community or citizen-focused policing. Simply put, "community policing", to use one definition, "is a collaborative effort between the police and the community that identifies problems of crime and disorder and involves all elements of the community in the search for solutions to these problems. It is founded on close, mutually beneficial ties between police and community members."
Achieving this isn't going to be easy; it isn't going to be doable overnight. It is going to take effort, time and patience and positive pro-active professional leadership from the police. But it's the road to start. It's a partnership that recognises the value of bringing poor, disadvantaged people, such as zinc fence and gully-bank dwellers, back into the policing process. It is a process in which all elements of the society must pull together as never before if it is to deal effectively with the unacceptable level of crime which will inevitably spread from the inner cities to middle class neighbourhoods.
In community policing, officers must patrol, preferably by foot. They must interact with citizens, speak with neighbourhood groups, participate in business and civic events, consult with social agencies and take part in educational programmes for school children. Happily, this has already begun. This is how the police are going to develop intimate knowledge of the day-to-day workings of the communities that come under their jurisdiction, and integrate themselves into the fabric of the communities so that officers, like Sgt. White, can offer their valuable guidance and experience in helping and counselling the people, and giving them the sense of hope they need so desperately.
It is said that in life problems arise not by what we mean to say, but by what we say without meaning to. The impression given by Sgt. White, is that the police should patrol only gated, middle-class communities and well-laid out commercial districts. If Sgt. White were a teacher, would he have the time in his class for the children from the gully-bank and zinc-fence communities? Or would he similarly write them off and focus on the middle-class children only?
What Sgt. White should bear in mind is that policing is not the sole responsibility of the Jamaica Constabulary and its auxiliaries. It is a task for the whole society the state and all its agencies, not only the police, but the church, and civil society at large, and the individual members of the communities themselves. It's everybody's problem.
DRIVE-BY POLICE
The police need to change from being a force to a service. Drive-by police are as unhelpful as drive-by shooters are unnecessary. Sending soldiers into these communities in armoured personnel carriers and with Barrett .50 calibre sniper rifles won't reduce crime one bit. Crime-fighting must be an interactive process which involves the whole community or certainly the law-abiding majority among them who suffer at the hands of the criminal minority. Gully-bank and zinc-fence community dwellers do not enjoy being robbed and murdered and raped any more than do the residents of the posh suburban communities. It is only by interactive community policing that any society will be able to reduce or control the debilitating ills ranging from low-level disorder to anti-social behaviour to serious and organised crime.
The police need to recognise their responsibility to maintain law and order everywhere, while treating the people with respect and dignity to help to promote safe, secure neighbourhoods.
The Jamaica Constabulary's Code of Ethics states in part:
"As a law enforcement officer, my fundamental duty is to serve mankind; safeguard life and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the constitutional rights of all people to liberty; equality and justice.
"I will never act unofficially or permit personal feelings, prejudices, animosities or friendship to influence my decisions..."
No member of the Jamaica Constabulary should be allowed to vary it, especially someone with the influence of Sgt. White, in his position of leadership.
