Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

Like zinc fences and board houses, police abuse, according to inner-city youths, has become a feature of inner-city life, and the youths who reside in these areas want no more of it.

Speaking on Wednesday at a Gleaner Editors' Forum, several of the young people who participated registered their concern about the behaviour of the police force, while offering solutions they believe the next government should institute to effect changes.

"You see, we as the young people whe live inna the ghetto - especially someone with my appearance with cane row (hair) an all that - we (nuh have) no rights at all; the police them judge we offa we looks," said one male participant who, like most of the participants, declined to give his name because of where he lived.

Harassed by police

Relating a personal experience where he was boxed and shot at by police for allegedly "switching" political preference, and "looking" like a murderer, he says he has resorted to taking public transportation because he is harassed by police every time he drives.

A female member of the panel admitted that there were good men and womenin the force, but she believed the insensitivity of some members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force was giving the entire body a bad name.

She tells of an incident in which she was walking late in the day and a suspicious-looking man was making advances towards her. She saw a police car approaching and flagged it down. "I said, 'Officer, that man trying to do something to me.' They asked me what is the relationship I have with the man which was a logical question, and I said, 'I don't know him, Officer, this man is trying to attack me', and they just sat in the car and said, 'Whoi, Sah!' and it was another man who had to take me up the road."

She is proposing that the police be evaluated more frequently to eliminate bad cops. "I think that every six months or every three months, a cycle evaluation needs to be done specifically to weed out the bad apples to gear them to treat people like individuals."

Ultimately, the group believes the Government needs to make policemen and women more responsible to those they serve.

"I think that the Government should look out for the young people because the young people in the ghetto are more at risk because of area stigma. Police will target youths from the ghetto, because if they are addressing someone from the uptown area, they will say, 'Sir,' but if they are addressing someone from the ghetto, them will say, 'Hey! Bwoy!'"

mark.beckford@gleanerjm.com