A man walks toward two armoured police trucks on patrol along Wareika Avenue in Rockfort, east Kingston during a recent flare-up of violence in the community. - file
On Christmas Eve, The Sunday Gleaner published the true, mind-boggling
and stomach-churning confession of a rogue cop attached to the Jamaica Constabulary Force. His shocking, real descriptions of the level of corruption in our small force cemented in the minds of many of our readers a reality that was always known, but never so blatantly admitted by those who live the story - the police. Today we publish some of those
letters from, you our readers, in response to that policeman's deep dark tale.
The Editor, Sir:
It is now 2:25 in the morning and as I read the article I realised that there are more corrupt cops than I had ever imagined. I believe that this cop's conscience has got the better of him. It is plaguing him like the devil's fork. While I applaud him for speaking out, he has just confirmed what the public already experienced and confirmed. The question is, how do we get these corrupt cops to bring to justice? But can we, when there are corrupt judges and politicians who also need to confess? I applaud you for publishing this story.
Deloris Dixon,
deldee2004@yahoo.com
The Editor, Sir:
I wonder. I just wonder if this person gave this statement on his own or was he forced to. We all know that this and more was and still is going on in the force. I wasn't shocked by this, I was just amazed that it took so long to be told. A revelation that even after reading it I remain frozen in my seat shaking my head.
I'm happy to know that someone could have eventually come clean and I do hope that it will force others to tell their side. We all know that the police receive good training at the academy and we all know that such training was all an illusion in comparison to what goes on on the street. I would say thank you to the cop that came clean and I'll be watching out for more who decide to "confess", especially those who have assumed a new relationship with Jesus Christ and still remain silent (shame on you). A lot (and I say it again), a lot of innocent people have been murdered by members of the force and I do know a few who suffered at their hands and nothing came out of it. Why? Because the force is filled with some cops that are so unprofessional and corrupt that you wonder if there's a difference between them and criminals out there.
I applaud The Sunday Gleaner for printing this story.
Regards,
Michael Brown,
mab2005@msn.com
The Editor, Sir:
As I sat here and read this article, my stomach became sick. I am here in Britain due to police corruption. I ran away from Jamaica because I was robbed and raped and the police superintendent was paid to drop all charges against the boys responsible. I will certainly pass this article on to the BBC and all the London press. Jamaica will never get better. How disgusting!
avagayeb@aol.co.uk
The Editor, Sir:
Thank you for having the courage to publish this.
Dr. Carolyn Gomes,
Jamaicans For Justice
carolyn.gomes@gmail.com
The Editor, Sir:
I have always suspected that many many many Jamaican cops are dirty in many ways, but I did not know it ran so deeply and that this 'game' was so strategic and actually involved high ranking cops.
Undoubtedly, this is just one of possibly hundreds of similar or worse stories that police officers in Jamaica could tell or may tell if and when guilt begins to burden them. My question is this : "With this kind of policing, will we ever get the upper hand on crime in Jamaica? Even a little bit?" I have no idea. What a disgrace that those who should be fighting crime are the criminals.
It almost feels like a hopeless case. Poor Jamaica. So great yet so troubled. Poor Jamaica. So awesome yet messed up by the cousins of crime and greed and their other detestable siblings.
I would hope that by his giving an insight into the corruption in the force, it would hit a nerve, a conscience. Only, I know only too well that that may be virtually impossible as these officers may have already had their consciences seared with a hot iron.
What will we do? As for me, I feel I can only do one thing. I will continue to pray for Jamaica, as it is home and will always be.
Georgia Williams,
abbeymore@hotmail.com
The Editor, Sir:
An excellent piece, my only criticism is that it is too short. You need to do some follow-ups, perhaps in other spheres of society such as insurance, banking etc. This is what a national paper is supposed to be doing and leave the politics aside for a bit. Unite the country around a cause instead of unwittingly participating in its tearing apart. Again, a job well done.
Robert Mitcell,
mitcib@yahoo.ca
The Editor, Sir:
This article is a small yet positive step in exposing the many criminals who work for the JCF. My husband was a victim of some licenced "gunmen" who work for the JCF. Perhaps if more officers would take a moral and honest stand against their fellow corrupted colleagues, less innocent people would be murdered in your country by the JCF every year.
Although it may seem like everyday news to some citizens of your country, my family and friends in Canada were shocked and appalled at the murders your police force get away with and the fact that most are never investigated by the BSI. How many more sons, brothers and fathers will die at the hands of the JCF? What a sad and horrific reality for such a beautiful country. Congrats to you for your courage.
Name withheld,
Toronto, Canada
The Editor, Sir:
Your article in The Sunday Gleaner puts the final nail on the reason for the problems in Jamaica. Just reading that guy's confession just makes me sick.
It is no wonder why Jamaicans hate the police. He should now go ahead and rat out his cohorts that are now in high places. Let the public see who the scums of law enforcement are.
S. Dalton Waisome,
dwronesome@hotmail.com
The Editor, Sir:
I am a former JCF officer, I did 12 years and called it quits. We need to pay our public servants better and we would not have to worry about corruption. This idiot speaks about protecting a code we are sworn to protect why isn't he protecting it. Corruption in Jamaica is bigger than a few police officers, corruption is JAMAICA.
Dunn Wiltshire,
jcanx0055@yahoo
The Editor, Sir:
I read the article that was published in The Sunday Gleaner. If this is what is happening in the Jamaican Police Force I think these people or so called cops should be punished. We need prisons to be built in the isolated mountains of the Cockpit Country. These rogue cops, they are murderers, thugs, they have a rat mind and a puss intention.
These people will never maintain law and order for a society that is overrun by dishonesty, criminal activities and most of all people in authority committing these crimes. They need to be placed in a maximum prison and as they arrive there, they need to build their coffins and dig their graves. They should not see the sun. They should not know if it is day or night.
J GRIFFITHS,
griffiths442@btinternet.com
The Editor, Sir:
I wonder if there is anyone in Jamaica or abroad who would attempt to dispute for one minute or second that the police force is rife with corruption, from the top to the bottom. Remember now that those at the top who are speaking out against corruption (half-heartedly I might add), were themselves trendsetters. Look at the way police officers live, the cars that they drive, and the lifestyle that they lead.
It amounts to the old adage of the old-boys network, dogs do not eat dogs. Then again, what can the poor Jamaican people do. The policy-makers and enforcers have left the people in a catch 22: "If they do, they are damned, they are damned if they don't". Heaven help us!
Regards
EVERTON ALEXANDER,
evertoneastwood1@verizon.net
The Editor, Sir:
Why am I not surprised. In this neck of the woods where I am it is common place to hear the confessions of those policemen and women who've escaped the force and are feeling that they're in safe heaven so they feel free to chat.
I've been saying this for years and 'mi naah stop seh so' - the police are the root cause of Jamaica's crime problem. I rest this blame squarely at the feet of cops, trust me. Had policemen and women not become so corrupt and prostituted themselves, the country would be a better place today.
Peace
Mr. Dee,
dawilly@optonline.net
The Editor, Sir:
I read with disgust a story carried in The Sunday Gleaner of December 24 headlined "Confession of a corrupt cop - Police officer comes clean", and must admit that it killed every spirit of Christmas that was in me.
News of corruption in the Jamaica Constabulary Force is not new to me, however, I am appalled at the extent to which corruption is entrenched in the force according to the story. I am not going to ignore the fact that our law enforcement officers are underpaid, but I cannot blame corruption on poverty but rather covetousness, greed and lack of moral values. Corrupt cops will not stop when they have enough, as the more they get is the more
they want.
I also disagree with the title of the story "Police officer comes clean". If the corrupt cop who has confessed really wants to be clean I now invite him to repent and clear the names of all those innocent victims of police shootings who are gone down as criminals with "sweeties" planted on them.
George Beckford,
jorgbecc2000@yahoo.com
