IT IS generally acknowledged that there is some degree of corruption in the Jamaica Constabulary; indeed the notion of the 'rogue cop' is common in police forces elsewhere.
Here at home the wrongdoing has erupted in a gun battle of cops versus cops in the wee hours of Tuesday morning at a guest house in St. Mary. Even before the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI) gets to the bottom of the shooting incident, the bald facts have already been confirmed by a senior police officer.
The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) has also reported that the guest house, which had been under surveillance for sometime, was raided by policemen, presumably several St. Catherine-based policemen who had travelled with five civilians to St. Mary. It is this group of policemen who were being questioned after they clashed with the local cops who had been summoned to the guest house to investigate suspicious behaviour.
Public concern about police behaviour has arisen mostly after fatal shoot-outs with criminals. There has been much scepticism in the reaction to such shootings even when it is acknowledged that the policemen must defend themselves. Shooting at other policemen, however, is a much more serious affair which will challenge the capacity of the BSI, a purely police agency which some observers feel ought not to investigate their own.
The matter of internal discipline must be examined by some external agency so the public can be assured about the integrity and capacity of the Force to maintain law and order. This incident, we believe, strengthens the argument for a special independent team other than the BSI, to be appointed to probe controversial police shootings and killings.
Nonetheless, the current probe must be pursued with dispatch. Much more rides on the outcome than the specifics of the St. Mary incident.
The Police Force has a long history and traditions to be proud of. It has been subject to modern corporate strategies and elaborate reforms some of which seek to raise pre-recruitment education levels to cope with the increasing sophistication of the crimes that it has to deal with; and the High Command has responded to the frequent calls to get international assistance.
A number of the senior officers have become qualified in the law which must be a useful corollary to their professional training. Yet officers or the rank and file can become victims of the very crimes they are sworn to fight.
So when good policemen engage in a shoot-out with rival policemen they write a dubious chapter in law enforcement that belongs only to the rogues among them. They must root them out.
The announced probe should be used as the basis for a more vigorous and aggressive push to reinforce discipline in the JCF.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
