Garth Rattray

Jamaica has two distinct police forces. One consists of hard-working, sacrificial, career-minded, patriotic cops that 'serve, protect and reassure'. The other consists of a fringe element of crooked cops that are a law unto themselves.

In order to be effective, the police force must be efficient, impartial and clean. Dirty cops sully the entire force and their actions undermine the efforts of those who would keep our nation safe and secure. Police who engage in brutality and criminal activities make decent citizens fear, distrust and disrespect the entire constabulary. Whenever this happens, we lose our greatest weapon in the fight against crime - the willing cooperation of law-abiding citizens.

I have seen several victims of police brutality. One fellow was kicked repeatedly in the face (while cowering on the ground) because someone accused him of petty larceny and summoned a passing cop. Others suffered a variety of injuries while offering no resistance to their arrest or while in custody. I recently saw a young adult female who was sexually assaulted by her so-called policeman friend. Intimidation, fear of reprisal and a lack of financial resources deny these victims any redress. However, their horror stories cost the constabulary (and therefore all of us) dearly because they generate hostility towards all peace officers.

Stupid stunt

Once, while taking a short cut through the inner-city community of Greenwich Town on my way to downtown Kingston, I observed the young uniformed male driver of a police patrol car directly in front of me stick his semi-automatic service pistol menacingly out the driver's side window while driving down West Avenue there was no threat from anyone, he intimidated and endangered innocent men, women and children as they walked along the sidewalk. His stupid stunt gained enemies and lost the police force vital allies where they are needed the most - in the inner cities.

When cops abuse people, beat people, shoot people for little and nothing, rape women, extort motorists and 'robot' transport operators, pressure motorists for a 'drink money' or for a 'contribution', sexually harass female motorists, 'sell out' court cases, take protection money from drug dealers, illegal street vendors and desperate businesses, they obliterate the dividing line between wrong and right. The confused citizenry lose their moral compass and no longer see cops as the iconic representatives of propriety, law and order; they see them as opportunistic predators and legalised gunmen. When rogue cops are paid protection money or bribes (to overlook illegalities), it's said that they take selfishly without any guarantee of safety or giving back to the community. On the other hand, in spite of their fearsome reputations, dons are thought to be efficient, protective and contributors to the welfare of the poor within the depressed communities controlled by them - hence their popularity.

Undermine our security

Because the actions of rogue cops make them no better than ordinary law-breakers, they thwart the authority of the law and therefore badly undermine our security. Unprofessional and/or illegal police activities: aggression, brutality, corruption and questionable shootings, are major contributors to crime. Police must be held accountable and brought to book with the same resolve employed in attacking drug kingpins. This administration must restore faith and trust in the constabulary with numerous sting operations, speedy investigations, publicised reprimands, firings and convictions of rogue cops.

With the exception of high-profile cases, complaints against the police tend to languish quietly for years before coming to naught. The Government must improve its ability to speedily probe police misdeeds and crimes with increased funding, equipment and investigative personnel.