Garth Rattray IN HIS Gleaner commentary piece of Wednesday, February 11, 2004, Police Federation Chairman, Sergeant David White, sought to dispel the misconception that the police wanted to retreat from their sworn duty to uphold the law, serve and protect everyone, everywhere. Although it was obvious to me that he only wanted to highlight police concerns for the lawless and dangerous conditions that exist within certain communities, many misinterpreted his now famous 'zinc fence' statement. It elicited a deluge of unfavourable knee-jerk responses. Unrestrain-ed derogatory allusions to police incompetence, cowardice, callousness, the disenfranchisement of the poor, and the possible need for military intervention were made.
In his defence, he assuaged his critics by reiterating that the police are committed to duty (no matter how dangerous). He mentioned the adverse conditions under which police must work but wrote at length about urban decay, the need for proper town planning and the police concerns for public safety. But I have no compunction about publicising the extremely dangerous conditions that many of them face because I see too many traumatised policemen. Already marked for death simply because of their job, police are additionally forced to risk serious injury and even death in environments like Backbush, McGreggor Gully, Riverton City, Mongoose Town and many others that are tailor-made by miscreants to kill 'intruders'.
Police tell me of noisy zinc gates that warn suspects of approaching patrols and of narrow obstacle-strewn paths between high zinc fences behind which criminals with high-powered automatic weapons lurk and peep through tiny holes. Secure on their own turf, they wait in ambush and fire at will through the zinc before disappearing in a maze of tenement yards. Police recount stories of gunmen fleeing by running straight into solid zinc fences only to vanish like ghosts between hinged portions that swing open to facilitate their rapid escape. It is an extremely dangerous situation for both the police and the citizens alike. If fired upon from behind zinc fences, police parties invariably hesitate to protect themselves (by returning fire) because the lives of the innocent people in the community are at stake.
INVISIBLE SNIPERS
I hear frightening stories of invisible snipers pinning down police parties. Gunmen appear from between houses and fences and let loose with semi-automatic pistols, shotguns, M-16, AK-47, Mack 11, SLR rifles and the occasional Uzi to name a few. In spite of all of this, the police must patrol high-risk areas repeatedly and expose themselves to hidden monsters coldly waiting for an opportunity to kill a cop. Not many people have heard how some policemen must go down dark and narrow death-traps (alleys) or brave treacherous swamps and mangroves knowing full well that the next minute could be their last on Earth. I wager that those who are quick to condemn Sergeant White's utterance have no children, relatives or even good friends in the police force that are compelled to patrol our aptly named war zones.
The subject brings into focus our dependence on armed police patrols to contain crime in depressed communities. Police enter those neighbourhoods to maintain a presence, apprehend wanted criminals, recover weapons/drugs or quell violence between warring factions. But the police have no permanency there. The people within those communities secure their personal safety by conforming to 'ghetto law' (selectively blind, deaf and mute). As Sergeant White rightly pointed out, depressed areas need urgent social reform first and foremost, not heavy-handed policing that endangers everyone concerned.
On the matter of highly trained police-military hybrid units, I must respectfully beg to differ with my Jamaica Combined Cadet Force contemporary of old, Jamaica Defence Force Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin. I believe that if the need arises wherein we must confront heavily armed criminals anywhere (inside or outside communities), we need special, militarily trained police squads. We must fully equip them with the most modern technology and logistic support for work in high-risk urban patrols and encounters, something beyond the scope of the regular peace officer.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
