Tyronr Reid, Staff Reporter
ACP ROSE
ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER of Police Leon Rose, is sparing no words. Criminal kingpins, boasting squeaky-clean police records, continue to camouflage as community leaders, giving orders to kill and create mayhem in several war-torn communities across the island, the ACP charges.
He said that the 'area leaders' appear to be doers of good but are the evil forces masterminding even the child-killing atrocities that have rocked the nation.
Leon Rose is the assistant commissioner of police in charge of community relations. He told The Sunday Gleaner that there is a stark difference between a
community leader and a don but many 'dons' have successfully hidden behind the mask of an uncontaminated and upstanding community leader.
The senior officer, who is also chairman of the Police Officers Association, said the profile of a community leader is "a well respected citizen who has gained the trust and confidence" of his or her peers and is an icon with regards to law enforcement and other social issues.
While reluctant to finger the persons pretending to be community leaders, the more than 30-year veteran of the police force said that these individuals, their deeds and the power they possess are an open secret in the communities in which they are wreaking havoc.
He said the criminal records of many of these dons are blank, but not because they are blameless and upright. "There are those who masquerade as community leaders, though not charged and convicted in a court of law, are known to be initiators, instigators and 'conceptualisers' of criminal activities," said an impassioned ACP Rose during the interview at his Ruthven Road offices.
He added: "(They) are the ones who give the instructions how to turn it on and how to turn it off. How to hold a community hostage and when to release that particular community from such levels of hostility."
The senior officer lamented that these wolves in sheep's clothing are able to keep a squeaky clean record because eyewitnesses dread the mere thought of coming forward to give damning evidence against them.
As a result, ACP Rose reiterated that no individual or organisation should be facilitating discussions with these fake community leaders, as they are on the same plain as wanted men.
That warning against dialogue with these so-called community leaders was initially given a few weeks ago by ACP Rose. This caused some discomfort for even leaders of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI) who have been at the forefront of efforts to broker peace in strife torn communities.
ACP Rose is fervently maintaining that the effort should not be to dialogue but dismantle these gangs. "We literally are sanctioning their existence, when talks are held with these criminal gangs. We can't dialogue away a murder! ?that's for the court to decide," emphasised ACP Rose.
Again, without pinpointing any person ACP Rose said that efforts to facilitate dialogue with rogues in the pursuit of peace usually has a bloody ending.
"We are seeing evidence of attempts at peace being brokered at certain levels in the society and we are seeing the reaction of the criminal elements in that particular regard and I think that is evidence sufficient enough to vindicate the statement that I have made."
