Peter Espeut
I CONTINUE to argue that government practice shows that either they do not understand what "conflict of interest" means, or that they do not believe that there is anything wrong with it.
Why is it that if an ordinary citizen is suspected of a serious crime - say, murder - they will be arrested by the police and locked up in jail while investigations take place to see if they should be charged, while if a policeman is suspected of murder he will not be arrested until investigations are complete, the file is sent to the DPP, the DPP rules that he should be arrested, and then it is convenient for the policeman to be arrested? Why is it that an ordinary citizen cannot normally get bail for a serious crime like murder, and will have to spend weeks - even months - in jail while investigations take place, while policemen walk around free as a bird (possibly interfering with the investigation of their case), and then after they are arrested they are immediately taken to court while bail is offered so they don't have to spend even a day in jail?
I will never forget the day when one of my staff was arrested for a murder allegedly committed in Kingston while he was in Trelawny doing work for me. He was not alone; he was with another of my staff. The murder took place in the evening when both my staff were staying at a Falmouth guest house, a fact corroborated by the woman who operates the guest house. Upon my staff member's return to Kingston, he was arrested for murder and thrown in jail upon the word of someone who had an axe to grind. Despite our efforts, he remained in jail for six weeks before he was released; no case was made against him, and not even the most minimal investigation was conducted; no one appeared to ask us, his employers, any questions. Because my staffer was not a policeman but an 'ordinary citizen', this is the treatment he was forced to endure.
But I am sure my readers remember the case of the policeman who shot a man dead because he would not come out of a telephone booth to allow the policeman to make a phone call. By the time his file came back from the DPP with the ruling that he should be arrested for murder, the policeman had skipped the island. The policeman was not immediately arrested with the smoking gun in his hand because he was not an "ordinary citizen" but a privileged one.
DIFFERENT RULES
Once I was stopped at a speed trap, and as my ticket was being written up, a marked police car flew by at great speed, with neither lights flashing nor siren wailing. I asked the traffic cops why they didn't stop that car and give the driver a ticket. "Police don't arrest police," was his answer. There are different rules for policemen and for 'ordinary' citizens. Not everyone in Jamaica is equal under the law: some are more equal than others.
That is why it is a conflict of interest to ask a policeman to arrest another policeman, or to refuse him bail, or to investigate crimes allegedly committed by other policemen, or to lock up another policeman in jail - even for a day. In this respect the police force is like a lodge. It cannot be expected to investigate itself with any credibility.
This is why for some time I have been calling for another body separate from the police with no former policemen on staff to investigate police offences. The police should not object to this, as it will reinforce the idea that they are not civilians or 'ordinary' citizens. It is the only way to avoid the inherent conflict of interest and the possibility of corruption in the investigation of cases of policemen by other policemen.
I have another concern. Murder is a hard case to prove, and it can be that not every policeman who unlawfully kills a private citizen is guilty of murder; it could be manslaughter, or at the very least, of the use of excessive force. It seems to me that charging policemen for murder may be one way of ensuring that they have their day in court (to keep the human rights advocates quiet), but get off scot-free.
To ensure a conviction - and to act as a deterrent against police brutality - I believe the DPP should charge policemen with 'use of excessive force' in addition to whatever other charges are preferred.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development NGO.
