The Independent commission of Investigations (INDECOM)was created to investigate civilian complaints against members of Jamaica’s security forces. The Commissioner of the Independent Commission of Investigations, (INDECOM) Terrence Williams says he has asked the Minister of National Security to review a submission on the use of gear covering the faces of security personnel while on operations. The Independent Commission of Investigations is to undertake investigations concerning actions by members of the Security Forces and other agents ofthe State that result in death or injury to persons or the abuse ofthe rights of persons; and for connected matters. The Independent Commission of Investigations Act, repealed the Police Public Complaints Act on April 15, 2010.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RMUzoLrj-uUPosted for your information as to what the role of this Agency is as well as the lack of support that is given to the rule of law in Jamaica.http://www.japarliament.gov.jm/attachments/341_The%20Independent%20Commission%20of%20Investigation%20Act,%202010,.pdf5:02 am, Sun December 18, 2011 Commissioner Williams says he has written to the Police Commissioner, asking that he desists from permitting his officers wearing masks as it is illegal. Mr Williams says the JCF’s Book of Rules does not provide for the wearing of balaclava or ski masks covering the faces of officers He notes that the rules cannot simply be changed by the Commissioner, but by the Minister of National Security. Mr Williams pointed out that while he understands that there may be circumstances when an officer may need to wear a mask, t his need to be done under set policy. The Indecom head wants the Minister of National Security to examine the proposals presented and make recommendations re the wearing of masks.Mr Williams says he has given the Commissioner of Police 60 days to reply to several other recommendations made to assist the public in identifying security forces.“The identification number of police officers should be worn on ballistic helmets and all outer clothing including high visibility vests so the public can identify the police officers they are dealing with. We have given the Jamaica Defense Force sixty days to respond to our recommendations that where the JDF is involved in operations in support of the police so that the JDF soldier and Officer can be identified by the persons they are dealing with” said Mr Williams.
This is the Independent Commission of Investigations at the table with the adversarial JFJ , addressing their Press conference even as the commission is supposedly actively engaged in investigating a case that involved fatal shooting by the police the previous day, and which he referenced.
We would like to know what it was that the commissioner of police Owen Ellington said to members that made them decided to halt their calls for Williams to step down.The three police groups had called for Commissioner Williams to step down, following his participation in a press conference hosted by criminal rights lobby group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ).We in the diaspora want to know what did the commissioner say , did he threaten members with sanctions, what did he promise them, if anything? We live in countries where the rule of law rules, we do not advocate that police run rough-shod over citizens rights, but we certainly do not want to see reactionary forces spearheaded by Gomes and Goffe and Horace Levy to derail the rule of law and turn Jamaica over to criminal Dons or (cporner crews are whatever)as have been the case.
People who decide to be Police Officers has to be a special breed, after all in places like Jamaica it cannot be because of the money. Police officers risk their lives every day in order to keep the rest of us safe. In some countries and locales the risk are somewhat greater than others.
Police in Mexico sometimes wear masks:
Yet a police officer never knows what is going to happen when he/she initiates a simple traffic stop . As such a police officer must always be on guard to protect his/her life. Something hardly anyone else has to do at work in a given day. Many argue that police officers make the choice willingly so they shouldn’t speak of the risks. The inference being that free-will diminishes or reduces the legitimacy of the argument concerning the risks.
Police in the United States sometime wear masks:
Over the last few years one of the charge leveled against certain units within the Jamaica Constabulary Force is that officers wear masks on certain operations.
The arguments put forth by concerned parties is that police officers are more likely to abuse citizens rights if they know they cannot be identified. This is a legitimate concern that should be addressed.
Police officers should be given all the tools they need so they may effectively do what we ask them to do, which is to protect us. At the top of that list and of utmost importance is officer-safety.What that means is that the officer’s security is paramount, his life must first be secured.
Cops in Egypt wearing masks:
On the other hand the rights of citizens must be protected. Police officers cannot have carte-blanche to abuse citizens. In the process of striking the balance between accountability and officer-safety, we are forced to rely on the integrity of those we empower and arm, to do the right thing by us, the people they are sworn to protect and serve.
Cops in Haiti wear masks:
So the discussion comes down, not to whether cops may wear masks on certain occasions, but to the quality of the people whom we empower to be police officers. Many who position themselves as commentators of everything police does, has zero knowledge of the dynamics or what it takes to be a cop in Jamaica. Frankly some simply do not care. Many in positions to shape legislation argues that not enough police officers are getting shot.
Some in the Media gave people advice to stone police stations years ago, others encourage them to fight police officers. politicians distribute guns to kill people , cops included.
There are a few reasons why cops sometimes wear face-masks on certain operations, chief among them are.
♦ They are working undercover.
♦To keep their identities secret.
♦ Protecting themselves and their families from reprisals.
♦ As a safety precaution.
If an Officer wears a mask because that officer wants to conceal wrong-doing on his/her part, that officer has already crossed the line, he is a criminal .
In Jamaica the need for officers to be careful cannot be over-emphasized, Jamaican criminals like to kill cops.
Noted Jamaican Doctor Garth Rattray was adamant in his column in the daily gleaner when he stated .
Quote:A patient of mine who is a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) was maintaining a police presence, parked in a marked police vehicle, close to an intersection with a very major thoroughfare in St Andrew. As he observed the traffic and the general surroundings, a young man emerged from a neighbouring depressed community. He walked right up to the driver’s side window and calmly announced, “One a unnu kill one a wi so wi a go kill back one a unnu.” The messenger then disappeared back into the bowels of his honeycombed community.http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130520/cleisure/cleisure3.html
This is what Jamaican police officers have to deal with, in a small country that is roughly 4411 square miles. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows where someone lives. It is no wonder then that Police officers are being killed in the own homes. (See blog-posts on this site dealing with this issue.)
Many people believe police officers have firearms to take home. Guess again , many officers are forced to hand over the weapons they use on the job and are left to the mercy of Jamaican criminals by the hierarchy of the police force, some officers have acquired private weapons, not all, those without are left to fend for themselves.
Why are Jamaican cops precluded from wearing masks when they are much more likely to be killed than their international counterparts?
When the Police Commissioner acquiesces to the dictates of Reactionary forces which are hell-bent on making Jamaican a criminal Utopia, police officers die.
There is an bunch of Elitist in Jamaica who are spear-heading this assault on the safety of police officers, they are strategically positioned to do innumerable damage to the the rule of law and the lives of ordinary Jamaican cops, they are succeeding in this endeavor with the tacit acquiescence of the Police high-command who are largely political lap-dogs.
Heading that list is.
♦Carolyn Gomes heads the group which calls itself Jamaicans for justice or (JFJ).
Carolyn Gomes
♦Earl Witter mediocre criminal lawyer now given the job created obviously for him , Public Defender.
Earl Witter
♦Terrence Williams Commissioner , power hungry wannabe-cop ‚appointed to the new agency INDECOM.
Terrence Williams
♦Horace Levy self promoter and head of the so-called Peace Management Unit.
Horace Levy
These are all positions which which are at odds with law-enforcement in the small Caribbean Island of Jamaica, these are not the only ones but they are among the primary ones who grand-stand at the expense of the Jamaican police.The tragedy is that when they do, police officers die.
Witter and Gomes vehemently asserts ‚that in order for the number of civilians killed to be more believable more cops would have to be killed. That kind of atrocious statement could not come from the mouth of any person who wanted to retain any degree of public support in any developing/ed country except Jamaica. Carolyn Gomes received the Order of Jamaica. The others are lining up for their awards from the criminally complicit Government(government not confined to party).
Jamaica has one of the highest murder rates in the world, many argue that crime is a direct result of poverty and lack of opportunities. Yet there are countries which have significantly lower standard of living where crime is substantially lower than Jamaica.
You ask what is it that differentiates Jamaica from those countries? The simple answer is “village lawyers”, most of us present ourselves as an authority and have an opinion on everything.
We are impressed by stuff like, color, money, big houses, cars and Degrees, so it matters not that a person who is a Pediatrician knows nothing about law-enforcement. That person’s opinion is valued aver that of the real pros. But it goes even deeper than that.
The policies being followed are costing the lives of cops, no one speaks for the cops who are being slaughtered, the forces headed by the charlatans above, are silent when cops are killed. Many people are now asking the question why?
We don’t need crocodile tears from them, what we have seen so far tells us what side they are on. The question is , has the Jamaican people realized who their enemies are . I really don’t care for a lot of cops in the JCF , never did, in fact some of them deserve to be treated like second-class citizens in the job they dedicate their lives to. Many of them deserve to have that power-hungry ego-maniacal ‚narcissistic shit-head Terrence Williams give speeches to other shit-heads about what police are supposed to do and what they aren’t supposed to wear. The top-tier or the police department, with the exception of a few, are simply political hacks who simply do as they are told.
On learning of the death of my good friend Senior Superintendent Dathan(Duffy) Henry, I was shocked beyond belief. On the 12:05:30 I wrote a blog-post titled “What caused the death of SSP Dathan Henry”.
Henry’s rank and his smarts belied his age, he was only in his early 40’s when he passed. Duffy, as we called him when he was a young constable, was everything the force needed in a young officer.
He was smart , willing , honest, fearless, and even though we were once constables working at the CIB office at Constant Spring after I left the department, Duffy’s talents took him to the rank of SSP rather quickly, through the accelerated Promotions program. We are left to wonder what would have happened had he lived? The legacy he left in Clarendon will be hard to replicate. the Police department is exponentially worse off for his passing.
Since his passing, there has been reports that the medical examiner could not decide what caused his death, later after the family pressed the authorities, they revealed that the substance Warfarin was discovered in his body. Checks with online medical references show that Warfarin is used to prevent the blood from clotting, so that it takes longer than usual for someone to stop bleeding if they have a cut or is injured.
I have tried to keep the feet of the Authorities to the fire in my small way, by continuing to highlight this mystery. Word on the streets in Jamaica has been that Senior Superintendent Henry was poisoned. I know that heresy is not evidence as such I will be judicious with my comments.
However it bears mentioning that the Police have been woefully inept in bringing to justice the killers of Superintendent Anthony Hewitt, Superintendent Denzil Boyd, Seargant Simpson, or any of the other Police Officers who have been viciously slain since Duffy died.
This is unacceptable, how can a police force be unable to bring to justice even those who slaughter it’s biggest and brightest stars. What kind of investigations are being done? As we speak the police have far more tools at their disposal. Yet two decades ago we were able to bring criminals to justice with more alacrity and in much higher numbers.
The Police force has been reduced to a shell, a tooth-less paper Tiger, by the forces of criminal support in Jamaica, and the Commissioner of Police has fallen for it.
Carolyn Gomes
No one in their right mind could argue that the police force does not need serious overhaul, but the police force is a security agency first. As such the inner workings of the force must be to run on a need-to-know basis at a bare minimum .
I call on the Commissioner of police Owen Ellington to :
♦ Create a cold-case squad to investigate and bring to justice the killers of the police officers where there has been no closure. No country, no police department, may survive if it’s law-enforcement agents are summarily slaughtered and no one is held accountable. I call on you to do this in light of the failure of successive administrations (of both political parties) to pass meaningful legislation which protects law-enforcement officers.
♦ Ask senior Investigators who have served , the likes of Ruddy Dwyer, Dick Hibbert and others ‚to volunteer their time to help with these investigations, the way good old fashioned criminal Investigations were done.
♦ Impress upon the brain-dead politicians who are above you, that they must pass meaningful legislation that differentiate the killing of police officers from other murders.(No life is more valuable than another, but other nations have attached more punitive teeth to the killing of cops, it works)
♦ Begin to train and equip detectives so that they may once again begin the task of investigations,so the police force may once again be able to solve a crime.
Horace Levy
♦ Cease and desist from publishing the Force Orders to the public/criminal underworld, they have no expectation or right to what’s in it . It’s none of their damn business.
♦ Stop pandering to the very forces that are destroying the rule of law in Jamaica. Stand for something or step aside. There is a reason those people believe you are doing a good job. Even as police officers are killed and no one held accountable. Even as you argue that crime is on the decrease. Do you seriously believe anyone buys that nonsense.
♦ Build a relationship with the cops under your command, and for God’s sake I do not mean those who walk around with their guts hanging below their belts, in Khaki uniform, who nod at everything you say, they are robots.
The police Force must be free to do it’s job, the job of policing cannot be dictated by Jamaica’s elitist pretenders, the law must be obeyed by everyone.
I call on you to find the killers of all the police officers killed, it cannot be any comfort to you that less that 7% of the country’s criminals are being brought to court and even less are being convicted in a court of law.
That, Commissioner is not success , no matter what Carolyn Gomes, or Horace Levy tell you.
In the penultimate article I wrote I attempted to address the issue of Politics. In that post I referenced the way politics has colored our perceptions that it is almost impossible for some people to operate outside the narrow parochial confines of Jamaican politics. I was always aware that in a way it was a form of identity for some to cling to, a sort of grouping of sorts , being week minded and feeble they are unable to strike out on their own and find their own way. Instead they tether their wagons to the nastiness of Jamaican politics. In the 2008 Presidential campaign, then candidate Obama speaking to a group of donors behind closed doors, spoke to those truths when he excoriated certain mid-westerners, for what he characterized as their propensity to cling to their guns and bible.
What candidate Obama was frustrated with, was the almost kamikaze-like fanaticism with which some people hold themselves back because of their refusal to let go of some of the things they know, thus excluding themselves from the limitless possibilities of the future. As I articulated in the previous post, I too was once a part of that class, it took me awhile to recognize that what I was was a man first, then a Jamaican second. Anyone familiar with my commentary over the years understand that I do not care about Jamaica’s two political gangs. I have seen them both at their worse. Interestingly, it seem even today there are some who cannot see any issue outside the confines of JLP/NP. Over the lasts several decades thousands of our country-men and women have been slaughtered, their homes reduced to ashes, because of local politics. No sector of Jamaican life has been left free from the noxious fumes of Jamaica’s fetid rotten politics.
It was of no surprise then that even as I went to great lengths to try to show just how destructive that infatuation has been for our people, there are some who moronically accused me of having an agenda, that my writings have a political stench. I will agree with the gentleman it does have a political stench, it is the very same stench that has kept my country in poverty to the point almost every Jamaican would leave if they had a chance. It is the stench that points to the almost 1600 of my countrymen/women slaughtered annually for no good reason. It is the stench of countless rapes, assaults on our children, little children forced into prostitution. The stench of the rise of the “don“culture which has divided up our little country into political zones of exclusions and turfs, the kind only found in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the stench of witnessing the Police Force I served in, reduced to an inept poor excuse of a security-guard band of sad-sacks, which is so corrupt that people prefer to go to the don for help.
The stench which saw the dollar reduced to a worthless piece of thrash that our people would rather receive a foreign currency than our own. Yes the stench of failed leadership which stole and wasted borrowed money which has created a balance of payment situation which makes our future worse than Greece. Yet I do not expect some to understand the dire consequences this has for the future of our country, after all( “you are nammin a food rite now, arent you”)?I reminded myself that the reason the JCF has the reputation it has is because of some of the people who entered through it’s doors. Part of the tragedy is some can barely read or write yet they were allowed in, the damage they do will live for infamy.
Our politics , like Race and Religion help to shape who we are, how we view the world, how we relate to each other. There is no one way which is right , no one way which is absolute. As such when I take the liberty to be a social commentator, I am very mindful that I am limited in what I know, as such I am particularly careful in understanding and appreciating the views of others. I am not offended by opposing views I look to learn from those who disagree with me, taking into consideration that I have never walked in their shoes. Though we are shaped by our experiences, we are not precluded from un-shackling ourselves from the mores of traditional or parochial thought. Essentially we have the ability to learn something new always. I too have been guilty of being a party to the confining tentacles of Jamaican political labeling, I have sought over time to extricate myself from those mental chains which has since allowed me to be a Jamaican, and not a PNP or a JLP, I am Jamaican. People asked me what “P” was I during the heights of political fervor years ago, I responded ‚“Police” ! To this day I couldn’t care less about either political party, I refused to allow myself to be defined by those labels. Today as we look back at what happened in Tivoli Gardens, we must look back to ensuring that what Tivoli Gardens metastasized into, is never again allowed to happen. I have written at length about this, no community should ever be off-limits to law enforcement. No Politician should ask “what was Adams doing in Tivoli”? As Edward Seaga did. The inference being that law-enforcement is precluded from entering his personal enclave. The other party is no better they argue Jamaica is PNP country.
Really?
Jamaica is not PNP country, but they have used taxpayers money to create these zones of political exclusions, which allows them to have the temerity to say so publicly. In fact they have eleven times the Garrisons the JLP does. They have bragged that they are guaranteed to keep winning as a result of this type of gerrymandering. As reprehensible as this practice is both political parties in the United States indulge in this un-democratic practice when they control the majority, absolute power corrupts absolutely. The University of the West Indies have been a huge contributor to this kind of mentality, for decades it has propagated and promulgated a far left ideology not just through its Curriculum but the Professors it hired. The Communist party owed it’s genesis to that Institution. Years ago as a young officer assigned to the Ranger Squad out of the Mobile Reserve, I infamously Graced the cover of the then (WP[J)Communist Party Newspaper the “Struggle”, branded a terrorist cop. My crime was that I stood my ground, did my job. We were sent to make sure that a band of WPJ demonstrators did not get to invade the grounds of Jamaica House the Offices of the Prime Minister who was in office at the time. Edward Seaga was the then Prime Minister, what irony. Years later I went to a Restaurant on Dunrobin Avenue to have lunch, with me was Detective Sargent Gerald Wallace, the lady who owned the establishment was very cordial , she knew mister Wallace who did the introductions. I was surprised that she knew my family, as well as to learn she was friends with my dad while they were in school. She went on to tell me about her father, famed Lawyer Huntley Monroe and her brother Trevor Monroe, President of the WPJ. The story had come full circle, I told her of the incident in which I was labeled a Terrorist cop, she was livid and shocked, she promised me she would fix it. Sometime later she called to tell me that she had gone ahead and arranged a meeting between her brother Dr, Trevor Monroe and myself,we were to meet for lunch at her place, I agreed. As usual it was Seargant Wallace and I. That day we had lunch with Dr. Monroe and her, he was very engaging, we had a very good conversation culminating in him giving me a full-throat-ed apology for the “Struggle’s” headline, we made up and went our seaperate ways.
… Oh by the way we paid for our lunch.
I understood the Paper’s need for sensationalism, after all they needed traction and who better to give them traction than the evil police[sic]. They never bothered to think of what could have happened if we had allowed people to invade the Prime Minister’s office and do him harm( irrespective of who is in that office). The story of that day historically would have been much different going into posterity. The beauty of our meeting was that people with diametrically different objectives were able to sit, break bread and discuss those objectives,it was wonderful and enlightening.
Citizens demonstrate against police killings in Jamaica:
Awhile back I wrote an Article which was featured in the Jamaica Daily Gleaner, in The article I attempted to discuss the issue of extra-judicial killings. One of Jamaica’s leading criminal/constitutional lawyer Bert Samuels responded that he would like to see police confess to killing innocent Jamaicans. I had known Bert for years as a cop stationed at Constant Spring, he is a son of the soil, a man who has done well for himself having come from the local community of Glen Drive Kingston 8, just across from Cassava-Piece. Mister Samuels has the unique distinction of having come from the hood, while having pulled himself up to the heights of power through education. I could empathize with his little outburst, having understood his background.
There has been a lot of debate on the issue of extra-judicial killings by police officers not just in Jamaica but across the world. Incidents of questionable police killings are mostly confined to urban or depressed communities. I cannot give you a psychological explanation for it, in countries like the United States and Britain race is seen as a determinant. In other places like Jamaica the arguments are more convoluted, less rational.
In the US Police line up in anticipation of protest action:
The general argument which dominated the discussion in Jamaica is (“because dem poor”) because the victims are poor. This line of argument has little legitimacy when we look at where police officers come from. Jamaica’s Police Force is almost 100% from the poorer class of people. So one would have to buy the argument that police are against the poor, the very class from which they come. Thus far we have seen no data which would support that theory.
Rastafarian’s have long argued that police take action against them because they are .….…. well Rastafarian. Criminals argue that police single them out because they are poor, never because they are.….. well you guessed it, criminals. It follows that the argument that police treat people in so-called upscale neighborhoods better, is absolutely true. There is however a reason for it, at least in the Jamaican sense, if your life is less threatened you are less likely to be aggressive.
Whether we agree on this or not is immaterial, police officers get killed less in suburbia, that’s a fact. One does not have to be a police officer in Jamaica to understand this, people simply do not go into certain areas, and if they have to, they are scared as hell with the hair standing on the back of their necks. It’s no different if you are a cop, only difference is that in the case of a cop, that fear is translated into awareness.
Dr. Carolyn Gomes is a pediatric doctor who is head of the group which calls itself Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ). The Group presents itself as a legitimate Human Rights Agency. However time and again by their very actions, they have put that legitimacy into question. Human Rights is a fundamental right which is given by God, not just to criminals, not just to people who have been victimized by the state or it’s agents, but to everyone.
One of the most fundamental right guaranteed to us is the right to life, yet the highly misguided Dr. Gomes fail to recognize that simple fact. As I have said everyone has the right to the life and human dignity bestowed by our creator. … … And yes Dr. Gomes even the murderers who you so stoutly defend have a right to life.
My own view is that even though I respect the sanctity of human life I would prefer to spend my time advocating for the innocent. I would rather spend my time advocating for the approximately 1600 Jamaicans who are reported murdered each year for the last decade plus .
I would rather advocate for…
♦The innocent people burned out of their homes.
♦The countless women violently raped , too scared to report it to authorities because of threats to their lives and that of family members.
♦The little boys and girls forced into a life of prostitution because a family member lost a gun belonging to the area don. Forced to pay, for the rest of their lives, with their lives, for something they never lost themselves.
♦The mothers and fathers who are forced to send their daughters away to give them a chance to grow up free from rape from the don , then report them missing to the police to save their own lives.
I could go on and on Dr. Gomes but you get the picture.
There are some who are fooled by the actions of people like Dr. Gomes and others, believing that everyone who comes in the name of Human Rights are legitimate, sorry I live in a country where there are many problems of Human Rights, and where Human Rights advocacy abounds.
One thing is certain Human Rights cannot, and is not allowed to interfere with the rule of law. As important as the individual right is, it cannot come at the expense of the many.
Extra-Judicial killings are immoral and illegal, Police Officers who kill summarily should and must be removed from the Force or any police department in any civilized country. With that said Extra-judicial killings cannot be determined by the amount of people killed by police. Each case of police shooting/killing is a separate incident, has separate and defining characteristics which determines whether they conform to the use of lethal force guidelines outlined to officers.
If they don’t they are not necessarily illegal, they are not necessarily murder, there is a lot of space between justifiable homicide and murder. Officer made a mistake, suspect acted like he had a weapon, suspect attacked officer had no weapon, suspect is shot.….
Is that murder?
Where is the malice aforethought?
You see Dr. Gomes, you alleging extra-judicial killings is synonymous to me alleging that you are summarily and illegally dispensing drugs to children who do not need it. Without knowing how many babies you see each year, how sick they are, what illnesses you dispense drugs for, or how many times per day you do write prescriptions.
You are still practicing medicine aren’t you? If not ‚you should concentrate on what you have been trained to do. Go back to taking care of babies and let the cops take care of the terrorists.
I believe that you fundamentally care about what you do at the peace management initiative. I think you are shaped by your experiences, I must inform you that despite whatever successes you may have achieved from your organization’s efforts, what you do is not a replacement for the rule of law. Criminals must pay for their crimes, it is through tough punitive measures imposed by society that the delicate balance between anarchy and civility is maintained. You have been known to argue that a large percentage of what the Police characterize as Gangs in our country are in fact what you call ” corner crews”.
With all due respect even if we are to accept your corner-crew designation as a legitimate alternative moniker , I must inform you that said corner crews and Gangs would not be, and aren’t mutually exclusive. You have a job to do, do your job, stay out-of-the-way of law enforcement.
I know that it is common for those who(“eat the proverbial food”” in situations as yours, feel that the way to continue to eat that food is through the demonizing of the police. I must also inform you that you are not doing neither yourself nor Jamaica any good through your actions. The rule of law is going nowhere, it will be there ;long after you and I are gone, or I shudder at what will obtain. Do your job and lament the innocent lives lost at the hands of the scumbag predatory monsters who prey on the weak. You have been at this demagoguery long enough. Just do what you can and let the rule of law do what it is supposed to do, and if that means eradicating murderous urban scum, then so be it. What are the police supposed to do? Are the police supposed to beg criminals not to shoot at them, are they supposed to refuse to fire back at criminals out of fear that they may kill too many criminals?
I suggest that you prepare and make public a detailed proposal that you feel should replace the measures which Police Agencies use all over the World when they are confronted with life and death decisions.Those decisions in most cases must be made in a fraction of a second. Failing to provide such a detailed proposal, I strongly suggest that you confine yourself to whatever it is you are educated or trained in, if anything.
Of note is your total failure/refusal to mention the innocent Jamaicans whom have been slaughtered, not just since the start of this year but between the years 2001 to 2008, 2001 – 2008
Reported Cases of Murder : 10, 836 Shootings : 11,229 Rape and Carnal Abuse: 9119
Not one word from you about the innocent people killed, I suggest you and your friend Carolyn Gomez be very careful, criminals do not care who they kill, you are not immune, they will kill you too. Take care of what you understand and leave Law Enforcement to those trained and tasked with it.
The following is a letter from Horace levy senior member of the so-called Peace Management Initiative, posted in one of Jamaica’s Daily News Paper January 15th,2013.
Horace Levy
Some questions for the police, the commissioner of police, the minister of national security, and the people of Jamaica: Does every police encounter with criminals have to involve a shoot-out? Must every police encounter with criminals require the use of lethal force? Are our criminals really so more vicious than criminals in other countries that they can only be dealt with by lethal force? How come our more vicious criminals manage to shoot so few police? How much longer will Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington go on supporting, even encouraging, the killings carried out by his men? How much longer will Minister of National Security Peter Bunting go on endorsing the behavior of Commissioner of Police Ellington? How much longer will our citizens go on tolerating this kind of wanton killing of fellow citizens? Is the blood of only a few of us boiling? If this can happen in the first two weeks of the year, what will the other 50 be like?
My letter to Horace Levy:
Jamaican Police Officer on the job in tough inner city community.
I believe that you fundamentally care about what you do at the peace management initiative. I think you are shaped by your experiences, I however must inform you that despite whatever successes you may have achieved from your organization’s efforts, what you do is not a replacement for the rule of law.
Criminals must pay for their crimes, it is through tough punitive measures imposed by society that the delicate balance between anarchy and civility is maintained. You have been known to argue that a large percentage of what the Police characterize as Gangs in our country are in fact what you call ” corner crews”.
With all due respect even if we are to accept your corner-crew designation, as fact, I must inform you that said corner crews and Gangs would not be, and aren’t mutually exclusive. You have a job to do, do your job, stay out-of-the-way of law enforcement.
I know that it is common for those who(“eat the proverbial food”” in situations as yours, feel that the way to continue to eat that food is through the demonizing of the police. I must also inform you that you are not doing neither yourself nor Jamaica any good through your actions.
The rule of law is going nowhere, it will be there ;long after you and I are gone, or I shudder at what will obtain. Do your job and lament the innocent lives lost at the hands of the scumbag predatory monsters who prey on the weak.
You have been at this demagoguery long enough. Just do what you can and let the rule of law do what it is supposed to do, and if that means eradicating murderous urban scum, then so be it. What are the police supposed to do?
Are the police supposed to beg criminals not to shoot at them, are they supposed to refuse to fire back at criminals out of fear that they may kill too many criminals?
Do prepare and make public a detailed proposal that you feel should replace the measures which Police Agencies use all over the World when they are confronted with life and death decisions.Those decisions in most cases must be made in a fraction of a second.
Failing the ability to provide such a detailed proposal, I strongly suggest that you confine yourself to whatever it is you are educated or trained in, if anything.
Of note is your total failure/refusal to mention the innocent Jamaicans whom have been slaughtered, not just since the start of this year but between the years 2001 to 2008, 2001 – 2008 Reported Cases of Murder : 10, 836 Shootings : 11,229 Rape and Carnal Abuse: 9119
Not one word from you about the innocent people killed, I suggest you and your friend Carolyn Gomez be very careful, criminals do not care who they kill, you are not immune, they will kill you too. Take care of what you understand and leave Law Enforcement to those trained and tasked with it.
I spent 10 years in the Jamaica Constabulary Force(JCf ), I loved what I did, Many argue that the police force was just a job for people who didn’t qualify for any other job, or who couldn’t find anything else to do. I cannot speak to why anyone else joined, but I know I qualified for Mico Teachers College , but was dissuaded by my step-dad, who encouraged me to become a police officer.
I know there are not many choices for jobs in Jamaica, so even if people joined because they couldn’t find other jobs , so what? When the pros and cons are weighed it requires a lot of sacrifice from every person who serves, irrespective of length of service. Low pay, horrendous working conditions, not enough legislative support, not enough political support, not enough material support, the risks involved. On and on, the cons outweigh the pros.
When I joined I hoped to make a difference from within, after 9 years I realized that I couldn’t, after leaving in 1991 I asked myself ” am I able to effect change from without”? The jury will be out on that long after I’m gone, but while I’m alive I have pledged to myself that I will try my best to see how I may help in changing the landscape in my limited capacity. Rosa Parks changed a Nation simply by sitting down.
One way I feel that change can come about, is examining how we conduct business from the inside, and doing a mental audit with a view to doing better with what we have.
Years ago while I was assigned to the Constant Spring CIB Superintendent Brooks was transferred to take over the Division. One morning I was on my way to my car which was parked at the back of the station, when I heard him yelling “cib, cib where is the crime report”? I realized he was talking to me, despite the fact that my name was not “cib”. What really pissed me off was that I had just completed a tour of duty which commenced 8.45 am the previous day, with a break at 1:pm to 6:pm, followed by an all nighter, preparing a voluminous hand-written report of all the crimes in Saint Thomas, Saint Catherine, and St, Andrew North which made up Police Area 5. Did I mention that I was required to prepare 5 copies ?
In addition I had done exactly what was required of me, by having someone place the report on his desk, and was on my way home to shower and go to court. I did not answer, I proceeded to my car and drove away. He didn’t bother to look for the report, he didn’t feel he needed to address me as “officer”, or “corporal”, he saw me as a whole branch of the force. Despite this mis-step Brooks did not change his ways, he doubled down on stupidity by carrying a grudge against me from that day forward.
Sometime later, as part of an Investigation into a stolen Motor-bike, I went to a home in the depressed community of Cassava Piece , to speak to two brothers who were know to us as carrear criminals. With me was constable Francis and detective corporal Wilford Gayle who later went on to become a Senior Superintendent. Gayle was one of the officers with me the night I was shot on Blackwood Terrace.
In addition to the fact that these two brothers were criminals, the mother was also a drug-dealer and facilitator of that criminal enterprise operating from her home. I spoke to the mother, indicating why I was there, she told me her sons were not home, I asked her to relay to her sons that I would like to see them in order to exclude them as suspects in a my investigation. She was pretty civil during the whole conversation, so we left. I went on to other matters, and concluded my tour for that day.
The next morning on my arrival at the office I was told by detective Seargant Jerry Wallace who was Sub-Officer in charge of Crime that Superintendent Brooks wanted to see me. I found it odd, if Brooks wanted to find something out he could have gotten that information from Detective Inspector Noel Asphall the Divisional Detective Inspector(DDI), or Seargant Wallace the (SOIC) sub-officer in charge of crime, what did he want with me? I had no idea so I picked up my note-book expecting that he probably needed briefing on a individual case from the horses mouth. I asked Wallace to accompany me, I never did anything in the force without a witness.
Brook’s was on the phone when we entered his office, judging from the conversation he was on a personal call, (yes that early in the work day). He continued his conversation chatting away merrily as if Seargant Wallace and I were transparent. He did not offer us a seat, he didn’t ask us to wait awhile, nothing, he just ignored us . Personally I never allow myself to be disrespected in that way, and this was not going to be any different, so I turned to walk away, upon which he hastily hung up the phone.
Then he lit into me.
“Weh di blood claat yu gu dung a M.. yaad guy fire up shat fah, a weh di rass-claat du onuh , onuh blod claat nowadays police”? I was stunned , what was he talking about? Who did I fire shots at, neither of the men was at the house when we went there, so what was he talking about?
He continued to berate me, I stood there and allowed him to continue the tirade, when it appeared he was finished, frothing at the mouth, I calmly asked him, “are you done? You are a damn disgrace to the uniform, I respect the rank you hold but you as a person is a dismal disgrace.
I turned to leave then turned back, pulled my weapon, ejected the round in the chamber, placed the round back into the magazine, placed the extra magazine and the weapon on his desk and told him the Force has a Ballistic Branch and walked out with Wallace in tow.
Back in the CIB Office Seargant Wallace placed his hands on his head and declared ‘jesus gad, 21 years inna di police force, an mi neva si one acting corporal dress dung wan superintendent suh.
Gayle chimed in “if a did mi mi woulda tell him bout him blod claat”.
Jerry Wallace retorted “shut up yu blood claat yu fraid a yu fucking shadow”.
I did not know how prophetic those words would be until that night on Blackwood Terrace.
Later that morning Detective Inspector Asphall called me to his office and told me Brooks told him what happened earlier. Inspector Asphall told me Brooks wanted to know about who I was, Inspector Asphall told me laughingly “Becks I told him “if you want to know who this man is look at the red ink in the morning report”, mister Asphall handed me my weapon and the two magazines.
Back then red ink on the crime report indicated crimes which were cleared up.
In fairness to Superintendent Brooks he also asked Inspector Asphall to apologize to me for his behavior. I would have much preferred a personal apology, even as I understood how difficult it must have been for him to acknowledge this error.
For the duration of my stint there, Superintendent Brooks tried to mend fences, particularly when certain well placed persons called and asked him to have me stop by to see them when I’m on enquirers at night.
That woman in Cassava-Piece understood the value of launching a pre-preemptive attack on me in order to have me removed from the case. She knew that her sons were going down and down they went. I recovered the motor-cycle in Drewsland and all involved were given their just due in court, including M..‘s sons.
My colleagues who were stationed there at the time knows exactly what family I am referring to. I write of these encounters to encourage senior officers to set the example that they want younger officers to follow. If you hope to change the JCF , you must be the change you desire.
I spoke to a friend recently who is a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force(JCF) he has been a cop since 1987, hard-working disciplined, he has been a Sargent for over a decade, at the ripe old age of 44 he is now looking to leave the job he loves because he is stuck. The fact is that he does not kiss up, he’s not into politics, and he is not connected. Every day we read of cops doing things we would be alarmed at even if they were committed by regular criminals. I recall an instructor asking the class while I was on CIB course which offense was on the books that police officers had not committed? We remained silent, the more we thought about it the longer the silence grew, this was back in 1991. The point of all this is that even as the force is struggling with an image that is badly in need of resuscitation and repair, it continues to frustrate good officers, forcing them to leave for greener pastures. As an Agency the JCF has an abnormally high attrition rate, higher that any other agency in the country. This begs the question why? If as some say that police officers are ego-maniacal lightweights who gets high on the power, why does officers give up that power so freely?
I joined the JCF in 1982, passed grade 1 exams at 2 years service, no promotion.Passed grade 2 at 4 years service, no promotion .I was not made acting corporal until about 7 years service, despite passing the exam at 2 years service, and had already passed the grade 2 years earlier. I went on CIB course , as well as qualified and passed the accelerated exams and the interview, had a clean record with numerous commendations, yet I wasn’t promoted Corporal until I had decided to leave at 9 years plus service. My sin I did not take no bull and I did not kiss ass. I was lauded by several Judges as a fine example of what a good and competent police Officer should be. Their Honors, Basil Reid, Donald Macintosh, His wife her Honor Mrs Marva Macintosh were some of the Senior Judges who had incredibly high praise for not just my work , or case preparation, but the way I testified in court. Many Lawyers were terrified to face me and this is no idle boast, it is historical fact, not intended as puffery , just to make the point.
In fairness to trail lawyers who I am particularly hard on today, I have friends who told me in confidence if I ever needed a lawyer, they would represent me pro-bono, they know themselves, they are practicing today.The only people who could not appreciate the value of my work were the people whose job it was to do so, well at least some of them.
There are many others who left the JCF, or more appropriately the JCF left them, because of poor leadership on the part of senior officers who were themselves promoted to positions they were not qualified or equipped for. I write this because it important to note that the police department as an entity, has no other commodity on which to trade except its human resource. Yet one of the greatest failure of the JCF is it’s continued inability to adequately promote and exploit that which is it’s greatest asset.
A simple push-poll of former members, would support my assertion, many former members irrespective of where they emigrated to, are doing exponentially better for themselves and their families than they ever did serving in the JCF. We always spoke to the nobility of the Agency,I sometimes wonder whether we are not referring to the way we would have liked it to be rather than the way it actually is?
He and I graduated from the Academy December 1982, we went to the Beat and Foot-Patrol Division then situated at the bottom of West Street by the Craft Market. After our stints there I was sent to the Mobile reserve, this was unprecedented, never before were officers not specifically trained at the Twickenham-Park Police training facility, ever sent to the Mobile Reserve, another first for me. Seiveright was sent to the Motorized Patrol Division at Elleston Road East Kingston, many young officers were happy to be transferred there, it was a place where clean energetic officers got to shine, they were the face of the Force, they largely did only patrol duties. At the time I had a brother stationed there, I wasn’t particularly unhappy about not being transferred there. I was very unhappy with being sent to the Mobile Reserve, somehow that did not fit into my plans of becoming a detective. In fact that Division was called Harman-bruk-up, it was rumored to be a place where there were a lot of wasters, a disparaging moniker used to describe lazy non-productive cops. I will not lie, when I saw my name going to Mobile Reserve in that Force Orders I busted out crying. Seiveright was the nicest person you ever wanted to meet, he always had an ear to ear smile, he was quite, never cursed, never swore, he was a born-again Christian who took his Bible with him to the Academy. To the best of my recollection, not many of us took Bibles with us out of that batch of a hundred plus, I certainly didn’t. One night my friend Constable Seiveright was on patrol with a corporal,they pulled over a taxi-cab on what was then the Ferry road , now the Mandela Highway. Seiveright went up to the car, I can just imagine him then, smiling as he always was ‚getting ready to greet the occupants, as he would everyone in his good-natured well-mannered way. That was the last thing my good christian friend ever did. We received the news from Control, Seiveright was murdered by a sterling sub-machine-gun toting scumbag. Seiveright did not know what hit him, killed by a blast to his abdomen, he died instantly. The corporal obviously wanted no part of that shooting so he hid. R Seiveright was the first to die from our batch. Later Cowan, Steele, and others would follow, I too could have been one of those statistics, years later a cowardly piece of garbage thought he could ambush and kill me, in my case I refused to go down without a fight and fight I did.
Carolyn Gomes single-handedly influenced the way the nation was policed the result is thousands dead and dying.
Unless you have walked a mile in my shoes then you cannot know how I feel. I criticize the Jamaican Police Commissioner’s use of force policy, not because it is wholesale abhorrent, but because it was formulated without any input from the principal players, police officers facing the criminals.
It is not unusual that the Commissioner of police or his predecessors before him would formulate working documents without any input from the cops on the beat or their representatives in the federation. It bears saying also, that I was never a fan of cops in the Federation, they curry favor,and look for their own interest. Essentially the police in Jamaica are without anyone lobbying on their behalf. The Commissioner of Police and members of the gazetted Ranks are Civil Servants,they serve at the discretion of the political directorate. Rank and file, from the rank of Inspector to Constable are subsequently reliant on the Federation to look out for their interest, yet members voted into the Federation, has traditionally been puppets of one or the other political party, they sit and wait to be promoted out of there, sometimes after negotiating horrific deals for their members.
There is heavy human rights element to the commissioner’s new policy with a less than adequate counter-balance for officer safety. In fact this document seem to have originated from the Fagan Avenue Office of Criminal Rights lobby (JFJ). Owen Ellington is a product of the University of the West Indies,he holds two degrees including a Masters in business Administration from that hot-bed of left-wing ideology. In short I applaud Ellington for getting an education, but he is not a cop , never was one, it is no wonder then that he presented this laughable document as a working document on which officers lives are hinged.
Terrence Willaiams
Jamaican criminals are demonic and heartless, they rape and murder as a matter of course, police departments in the developed world has found out first-hand the depravity and callous disregard they have for human life.
During the 1980’s when Jamaican cops became serious with criminals, many ran to other shores, there they demonstrated their scant regard for human life, including those of law-enforcement officers. Legislators and law-enforcement professionals in countries like the USA, Canada, the UK and others, hastily drafted serious and sweeping legislation that made it clear that they were not going to tolerate that kind of criminality on their shores and that they were absolutely not going to have their law-enforcement officers left unprotected.
Federal laws like the Rico statute and on the state level, many states including New York and California, passed the there strikes and you are out and the Rockefeller laws which gave law-enforcement the tools they needed to do their jobs. I have spoken to many members of the NYPD who have related to me how serious they were forced to take the Jamaican criminals, the callousness of these criminals ‚these cops had previously never seen.
If a cop has to fire a warning shot mister commissioner he does not need to pull his weapon. I do not expect you to understand this you never had the need to pull a weapon to defend yourself and neither has your close ally Carolyn Gomes.
Several years ago I was a member of the Rangers Squad based at the Mobile Reserve. Early one sunny afternoon four of us were on routine patrol in a Toyota Land Cruiser in the Jacques road area of Mountain View Avenue, I cannot recall all the member of that patrol team that day but I remember the driver Acting Corporal Berry, a jovial guy who spoke with a stutter.
We were heading up Jacques road, for those of you old enough to recall, those land cruisers announced themselves a half a mile away,
Owen Ellington
the engine had a certain familiar sound. As we rounded a corner there were a group of about six men sitting on a wall, on seeing the vehicle they all rolled off the wall like trained professionals. In a flash we were out, I was the youngest member of that team, we raced into the yard after them, M16 at the ready. They rounded the corner of the house and we stopped abruptly, not intending to run into a hail of gunfire. Berry being the driver was the last person out, he raced to where we were and was about to run around the corner when I grabbed him by the back of his belt and pulled him down.
On my stomach I peered around the corner and there was the muzzle of a gun pointed to where my colleague Berry would have been. Thank God we did not lose anyone that day. The biggest take-away from that event was that these men were not content to just escape from the police with their illegal guns, they wanted to kill us.
On ever occasion that I pulled my weapon as a front line cop for the decade I served, I believed it was necessary to preserve my life and the life of others. When a pediatric doctor who has a vendetta against law-enforcement officers gets to make policy, Police Officers die.
Lets be clear, Carolyn Gomes, Terrence Williams, Susan Goffe,and Earl Witter does not care how many Police officers die, in fact they contend that instances of police killings are not commensurate with the number of dead cops, as such they are not credible.
Let me tell you what that means , not enough cops are getting killed.
Ellington has not stood with front line cops, police officers are operating with prison hanging over their heads for doing what they are sworn to do.
This must stop and I will not stop trying until I am able to effect change, I will not sit by while this lying charlatan, excite, encourage, support, and empower criminals to kill police officers.
Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington issued new directives to cops on the streets regarding the use of lethal force. On the issuance of those directives we argued that there was no need for a new use of lethal force policy, because the existing policy is clear, unequivocal and is standard protocol in the western world. Of course Commissioner Ellington who never faced an armed criminal in his life is out on the ocean without a paddle on this ever so important policy.
That standard is simple, a police officer may discharge his/her weapon in defense of his life or that of another. Nothing that Ellington adds or take away from that universal protocol ‚on Carolyn Gomes’ behalf will change the fact that cops have a right, every time and are justifiable every time that they have to discharge their weapons under the circumstances I laid out above.
Here are the directives from the Commissioner Of Police.
In a release obtained by OG.NR, Police Commissioner Owen Ellington has issued new guidelines to JCF members in this week’s force orders.
This new directive comes following the recent shooting death of 16-yr-old Vanessa Kirkland who was killed in controversial circumstances on Norman lane in Kingston earlier this week. The Commissioner says following recent discussions a review of Police procedures in the use of Police Force is be done in two weeks by a team lead by the Deputy Commissioner of Inspectors who is expected to make radical changes.
Protecting Human Rights and Human Dignity: A JCF Priority
Among our strategic priorities is to promote respect for and protection of human rights and human dignity. Recent revision of our Firearms and Use of Force Policy with accompanying training and sensitization efforts are the initiatives taken in pursuit of this priority. In the last five years, we have made considerable progress in the training and re-certification of our front-line members in the safe use and care of firearms. We have made changes to our weapons system, reflecting an imperative to reduce the risk of collateral injury when we are forced to engage criminal elements in built up areas.
This is most evident in the shift away from routine use of M16 Assault Rifles and Carbines in street level policing to the lighter and less lethal MP5 Sub-Machine Guns and Glock Pistols. The re-introduction of pepper spray with the stated intention to equip 6000 front-line personnel with a combination of less lethal options to the use of deadly force, are all part of a process being undertaken with the ultimate aim of building a response capability that can counter violence directed at front-line personnel by civilians, while at the same time, reduce or prevent injury and death of attackers as well as bystanders.
Recent Shootings and Fatalities
In recent weeks, the Jamaica Constabulary Force has faced much criticism for an abnormal increase in civilian fatalities arising from armed confrontation with criminal suspects in a very short period of time. Tough questions are being raised about the adequacy of our Use of Force Policy and the extent to which our frontline members subject their thoughts and actions to said Policy. Those who criticize and raise questions or concerns about the rate of police killings do so legitimately and identify with the growing number of citizens who have set higher standards of professionalism from their police service. We should not see our critics, on this matter of use of force, as adversaries, but rather, valued partners who may yet help us refine our techniques, thus enabling us to better achieve our strategic priority of protecting human rights and human dignity.
We are a Responsive Force
The Jamaica Constabulary Force must respond to the legitimate concerns and expectations of our citizens. The rate of police/criminal confrontations, with attendant injuries and fatalities is unacceptably high. Though we are seeing decline in such incidence over recent years, we are nowhere near the point where we can be comfortable with this record.
Key Policy Considerations
The Minister of National Security has requested that a comprehensive review of the Jamaica Constabulary Force Operating Procedures be conducted with a view to making adjustments where appropriate. Accordingly, at our last Executive Management Board Meeting on Monday, March 19, the senior leadership of the Force spent almost one hour discussing the most recent incidents of multiple casualties arising from police/criminal confrontations.
Arising from the discussions, a team led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge Inspection, has been tasked to conduct an urgent review of our Use of Force Policy and
Training and make recommendation for radical improvement within two weeks. Among the changes under consideration and which the High Command has asked Senior Officers to continue the conversations with representative organizations and their juniors are:
Standard of Care to be exercised when deadly force is to be used. The current view is that police officers’ first reaction when faced with danger is “officer safety”. We are seriously considering a policy position which demands that police officers exercise equal concern for “bystander safety”, extended to the attacker as they do for their own safety. That is to say our officers must take reasonable and safe steps to protect the lives of attackers and “possible bystander” as they do to protect their own lives. I suggest “possible bystanders” to make it clear that our duty of care extends to persons seen and unseen. Others who may be out of view being shielded by penetrable barriers such as fence, soft walls or panels of motor vehicles. Officers are called upon to seriously consider the consequences of shooting into crowds, buildings, through physical barriers or into motor vehicles. Let us all assume that there are innocent persons in those positions whose lives may be put at grave risk when we shoot and in such situations “do not shoot”. Our public’s expect a high standard of care from us because we are sworn to protect life. Our actions should convince our public’s that even in the face of danger; we have no desire to take life.
Threat to Use of Deadly Force. The existing Force Policy insists that a police officer should not remove a handgun from its holster or train a rifle unless he is legally and morally prepared to take a life. The Policy position obviously reflects what must be the ultimate consequence of deploying deadly force and emphasizes the serious nature of the act of discharging a firearm in any place. We believe such strict rule denies the police officer the tactical option of “threatening the use of deadly force” while demanding that an attacker ceases an attack or drops a weapon. Consideration is being given to a policy to change allowing officers to:
train a loaded weapon on an armed attacker and demand that
he drops a weapon and ceases an attack under threat of being shot;
appeal to bystanders to move out of an arc of fire for their own safety;
relate to the attacker the consequence of continuing an armed attack on any person while calling witnesses to the officer’s effort at diffusing a volatile situation;
verbalize an assurance to an attacker that disarming is in both the officer’s and attacker’s own safety.
Firing of Warning Shots. This practice is prohibited in our current policy. We gave much thought to revising this position along the lines of giving front-line officers the option of discharging a warning shot in a safe direction as an escalation of threat to use deadly force, but stopping short of directing force on a human target. This, if applied as a tactical option, will:
forcefully bring home to armed suspects the grave danger to which they expose themselves and others if they continue an armed attack or the threat of attack of the police.
enable an armed suspect to assess the inferiority of his fire power to that of the police, making him realize that continued attack or threats posed by him is futile and potentially fatal.
cause bystanders to retreat from “hot zone” or take the necessary precaution to avoid injury, which may include signalling their location to the police and making an appeal for safe extraction.
signal attempts by the police to counter a threat of violence without use of deadly force.
Containment and Waiting Out Armed Suspect. This is already a requirement of the Firearms and Use of Force Policy but obviously not used as often as needed. Several incidents show that all opportunities of containment and diffusing armed stand-offs were not fully exploited. We will insist in the revised Policy that no forced and armed extraction of suspects from any premises, vehicle or barricaded area should be undertaken until the police have exhausted all options to effect an unarmed surrender and the suspects have given all opportunity to do so. The only exception is where the suspect poses imminent threat to the life of any person and delayed action from the police would worsen the situation.
Criminal Rights activist Carolyn Gomes:
Tactical Retreat. Our police officers are cultured to pay the ultimate price rather than retreat from armed criminal attack. We are working on a set of procedures which could accommodate “tactical retreat” as an option to preserve human life without undermining the sense of pride and honor of front-line officers. We will begin the conversation with the idea that a tactical retreat does not signal abandonment of the cause.….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….….…
ENDOFGUIDELINES:
I ask all of you my readers, do update me on which Police department to your knowledge retreats from armed criminals as a strategy. This is mind blowing surrender to criminal elements in Jamaica by those tasked with enforcing the country’s laws. Jamaica is now seeing acts of terror synonymous to what is happening in sub-Saharan Africa.
Just last week scores of heavily armed men burned several houses in one area, murdered some occupants and ordered others never to return. This is the Jamaica run by Carolyn Gomes of the criminal Rights group Jamaicans for Justice. This they do not want you to know, don’t buy the lies about Jamaica no problem.
When groups of armed men, sometimes scores, and in unconfirmed cases hundreds, can amass toward a common cause, as was the case in Tivoli Gardens in 2010, or in Gravel Heights and many other instances, in Saint Catherine, St. James, Clarendon, and other Parishes, do you still believe it’s just crime?
Do you still say “Jamaica nice” or does Jamaica have serious problems which needs addressing now and with all seriousness? What is to stop them from taking out whomever they chose to? Ask yourselves these questions, even as you criticize us for airing the dirty laundry in public!!! Who is safe, is the Prime Minister really safe? Is anyone safe? If these Mercenaries really want to get someone what’s to stop them? It took a mass build-up of troops and police and help from the United States to dislodge Coke.
Burnt out homes:(courtesyjamaicaobserver) So ask yourselves this, if these heavily armed demons wants to do anything what’s to stop them? You may dislodge them later. But the damage will have already be done. This is serious business, we all must put pressure on the Administration in power in Jamaica to take steps right away to remove this existential threat from the country immediately.
Leroy Robinson murdered trying to save his neighbor after terrorists set her house on fire: This is not politics, it’s reality, your attention to this will speak volumes, it’s not about jokes and bull, this is serious, people are dying , young girls are being raped and forced into prostitution, homes are being torched, sometimes several at a time. We simply cannot pretend any longer.
While these acts of domestic terrorism are happening the state charged several policemen with murder on the demand of Carolyn Gomes of Jamaicans for Justice, (JFJ) local criminal rights lobby.
The case against the police officers as outlined in the Gleaners Story, may have bordered on recklessness, but murder? It is alleged that a robbery occurred in Portmore Saint Catherine and the robbers were tailed to a Kingston location where they were engaged by police and a young woman was killed and several other people injured.
There is no indication whose bullet hit who , of course Carolyn Gomes has demanded the officers be charged with Murder. Terrence Williams INDECOM boss, drunk with power and demanding more power, obviously hot under the collar that the cops were not charged immediately after he submitted the file to the DPP, just this week went to the media demanding more powers so he may prosecute police officers.
Acquiescing to the howls for blood, the DPP has charged the officers with murder, I am not fully conversant with the facts of the case so I will withhold comments on the case itself. Sufficing to say, there is law in Jamaica that gives the DPP the power to charge a police officer with a crime, in order to quell public disquiet, even though there may not be evidence to support the charge.
Many police officers do not know this, yet when officers are exonerated people scream cover-up, because they do not know there was no evidence to begin with. Yet cops spend all their income, are ruined financially, and carrear-wise, for doing what they were sworn to do.
Murder is a the unlawful killing of a human being by another human being with malice aforethought.
I am wondering how they charged murder, where is the malice, implied or expressed in this case? I will be watching , you should too.
♦Gunman kills hotel worker trying to rescue neighbor.
♦Massive MoBay Raid — Drugs, Cash Seized In 11-Hour Operation; Canadian Held
The country’s national security Minister indicated unwittingly that the government was out of ideas, in a speech he said the country needed divine intervention to solve the crime problem. I contended then to much opposition, that though I believe in God, I do not believe God is going to intervene to stop criminals and terrorists from killing , maiming and raping in Jamaica, Jamaicans will have to do it with his help.
Carolyn Gomes Jamaicans for Justice:
Throughout the Bible Jesus and the Prophets showed that if you needed a miracle you better get up and help in securing it. Go show yourself to the Priest! Go wash in the river! Pick up thy bed and walk ! Go home thy servant is alive! Go thy way and sin no more lest a greater thing befall they! Fill the jars with water! On and on we saw that we had to do for ourselves the things we must and those things we cannot do, the lord will handle.
I say once again the problems facing Jamaica are not insurmountable, they require bold leadership. The first order of business is that Jamaicans must stop seeing everything within the narrow lens of PNP, JLP. Once we are able to extricate ourselves from the shackles of that parochialism, we will have a better appreciation for liberated views aimed at building our country. I for one have no compunction about speaking my mind. Jamaica belongs to me as much as it does the other guy, so don’t believe for one moment I will be scared of saying my piece and doing my part. The second order of business is that we stop being pretentious. That means lets face facts, Jamaica is not a developed country, as such, lets stop acting as if we live in the Colorado Rockies, or the Swiss Alps with beautiful pristine mountains and we can leave our doors open if we chose to.We have a country that is undaunted with crime and it’s getting worse by the day.
We simply have to stop pretending and if it means telling Carolyn Gomes and all outsiders to shut the fuck up, then that’s what needs to be done. The Blind, incompetent political leadership is not going to change whats happening, they exist because of it. The Commissioner of Police is clueless as a crime fighter, Ellington has no clue strategically how to fight crime, he was an office clerk, the people he surround himself with are lackeys, and ass-kissers, they do not know what they are doing. Ellington and others before him has forced good officers to leave the police department even as they use the police department to provide jobs for their friends and family. It is a shame what Jamaica has become under these people’s leadership.Where else would a Police Chief be able to keep his job with a 7% clear-up of major crimes, even when crimes are committed in view of the police they are unable to secure convictions based on ineptitude and incompetence. So the department is clearing up 7% of major crimes and the conviction rate is even more abysmal, it is closer to 1%. This is not just the fault of Ellington, but he is the Police Chief.
The PNP while in Government during the decade of the 90’s did not train a single detective, when you factor deportees returning to the Island with advanced methods of criminality, it’s no wonder crime is at such alarming levels. Ellington makes the Force Orders public for no reason, this is atrocious, he makes Detectives wear vests announcing that they are police officers and drive in marked squad cars. Ellington’s leadership does not serve the interest of the people of Jamaica , he serves the criminals and the powerful bourgeois who lives in upper Saint Andrew.
Everyday we read the horror stories where bands of heavily armed men murder rape and commit arson at will. Young women forced into prostitution because a brother lost a gun. The only thing the inept Police can do is stay out of their way. As if what happened in 2010 was not warning enough the Prime Minister is mute, she has no idea what the hell she is supposed to do and as such she remains silent. Arguably hoping things will change if she keeps quiet. Our country needs action, we need dedicated leadership that is unafraid to bring justice to these murdering scums. Miller Bunting and Ellington is not that leadership, they are carrying out the dictates of elitist Carolyn Gomes.
We will be asking the Inter American Commission on Human Rights and other agencies which are dedicated to human rights, to tell us in the diaspora, how much money they give to JFJ, and explain to what end those monies are being used. The fact is, even as Police continue to abuse and kill people in state after state in the most brutal ways possible in the United State these agencies are silent, yet they provide funding for the persecution of Jamaican Police Officers.
Yesterday I wrote about the need for the Jamaican Government to stop pussy-footing around and recognize law-enforcement for it’s value to the country. Even as I believe passionately in the rule of law and it’s necessity in society. I am also viscerally passionate about the right of individuals to being secure in their persons. The points raised by those opposed to cameras in public spaces are legitimate concerns that warrants serious discussion and debate.The challenge for law-enforcement particularly in large Metropolises is, how to balance a healthy respect for individual freedoms and privacy while at the same time making sure they are able to keep residents safe. Criminal terrorist have to get it right only once, Law-enforcement has to get it right a hundred percent of the time to avert disaster. Even as I extol the virtues of CCTV as one more tool in the fight against crime and terror, I also believe that we should watch those who we commission to watch the criminals. The Police state is not something any of us except those with sinister motives want. As such we must be vigilant in ensuring that even as we acquiesce to present day necessities, we should guardedly protect the traditional freedoms we hold dear. Terrorists who exert their will through fear, does not stop trying to kill and maim simply because we cannot figure out how to balance privacy and security. As evidenced with the situation in Jamaica, Special Interest groups squabble over small stuff criminals simply show their disdain by shooting out the cameras placed there in down-town Kingston.
it’s important to have eyes in major cities today
The distrust that citizens have of Government and it’s Agents that they will do the right thing with footage harvested from CCTV cameras, is a legitimate concern. Government Agents, the world over have never failed to abuse the trust placed in them. Even in the United States some politicians introduce Bills that if passed into law would seriously limit the role of Government in people’s lives. Irrespective of other sinister motives they may harbor, they understand as well as anyone else the need to hold Government accountable. So for interest groups in Jamaica who are opposed to CCTV cameras, I suggest you call your elected representative and let them know you want legislation which protects the innocent from predators , even as we ensure that Government does not tamper with our freedoms and privacy.
As criminals continue to pose serious challenges to Governments, police departments and other law enforcement entities, it has become more and more urgent that every lawful means be employed to be able to give societies across the globe a chance, in what is fast becoming an existential fight for law-abiding citizens.
In many parts of the world, as it is in the western world, citizens are anxious to join the fight to keep their communities safe. Citizens understand it is not the fight of the police, it is their fight to preserve the safety of theirs and their families lives and property.
As such they have made the decision to do what they must to protect their individual liberties as free people, yet be fluid in balancing their understanding of the ever changing times. This requires a reshaping of some traditions and understandings about what constitutes privacy.
We now understand that we really cannot expect to have privacy in public spaces ‚yet expect those tasked with protecting us to be effective in doing so with their hands tied behind their backs.
Law Enforcement in Boston Massachusetts were able to turn to footage from CCTV cameras as well as cameras in parts of that city belonging to private individuals after the heinous terror bombings which killed and maimed many innocent people. This technology is not a panacea for the problem of crime and terror, it is one more tool in the tool-box which gives law-enforcement a chance to do what we asked them to do.
One of the last places on earth which ought to be in a position to scoff at this technology is Jamaica.
Jamaica has one of the world’s highest murder rates, on par with Mexico Colombia and a few others, the camera you see above was destroyed by criminals in down-town Kingston. the cameras were placed there without a plan, they simply placed them there without ironing out the details, or having an understanding of who would monitor the footage from them.
The Jamaica Gleaner reports that there has been a tussle of sorts, between the private sector, the police and the Kingston and Saint Andrew Corporation regarding who should monitor the cameras. Before you lose your mind in bewilderment, let me inform you that the police asked the private sector to pay for the project to help them help them the business people as the government cannot afford to pay for anything. Excepting of course the luxury SUV’s that Portia Simpson Miller and her band of ministers travel around in.
The private sector wants to leverage the footage , because They are footing the bill and they allege they do not trust the police. The private secor like the government and police has criminals in their ranks and will do anything to remain in the shadows. If you are not completely bewildered about this horse-and-pony show you should be, criminals understanding what is going on decided to shoot out the cameras, what irony.
Every day we report on what is happening in Jamaica, yet the Jamaican Government and the tourist board continue to lie to people , seducing them with false platitudes about the Jamaica you know and love. The fact is that Jamaica of yesteryear exist no more, the country is floundering like a ship without a rudder. The United States Senate select committee looking into the lotto scam referenced this very point recently.
The task of monitoring CCTV footage is one for law enforcement period. What is there to talk about, where are these morons from? If the police cannot be trusted, disband the force and start anew. My question for the private sector in light of such bull is “where would these new officers come from” in light of Jamaica’s abysmal 84 % corrupt rating by transparency international? The problem was compounded when the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation refused to give permission for street lights in the commercial district to be outfitted with cameras which would have been purchased with private-sector money.
This is laughable, the KSAC and it’s Councillors are political hacks many of whom are engaged in serious criminal activity, these are the people who have the power of yea and nay to determine whether crime gets controlled in Jamaica.
Since the Government refuses to act as a government should, by leading on the measures necessary to lower crime in Jamaica, we will be forced to do what we can to lobby interests in the United States regarding tourism and money.
The impotent and corrupt Government of Simpson Miller simply lacks the will to take the steps necessary to curtail and control crime in this small country of 2.8 million people. The criminals know it the prime minister has no clue, it will require people in the diaspora to band together to lobby critical sectors of the American Establishment to apply pressure to get the changes we need to rescue Jamaica from the death grip of crime government incompetence and criminal collusion.
There has been a lot of discussion coming out of the 2010 Security Forces assault on mercenaries holed up in Tivoli Gardens in support of confessed Don, Gun Runner and trans-national criminal Christopher (Dudus) Coke.
This buzz has received new life after the Public defender and anti ‑police antagonist Earl Witter released his report which did nothing to advance the debate.
Jamaicans are generally inclined to buy into anything foreign, our people celebrate any and everyone over other Jamaicans. This is true even when their countrymen make tremendous personal sacrifice on their behalf, they much rather exalt others over their own.
I provided a link for your information to Schwartz’s award winning Article titled: massacre in Jamaica
On Thursday, thousands of Tivoli women marched in downtown Kingston on Coke’s behalf. They wore white and carried signs, written in marker on scraps of cardboard: “Taking Di Boss Is Like Taking Jesus”; “After God, Dudus Comes Next!”; “Jesus Die for Us. We Will Die for Dudus!”
(1) By the weekend, Tivoli had filled with armed men. But, even as Coke prepared for war, he was negotiating his surrender with the police through a prominent member of Jamaica’s clergy, Bishop Herro Blair. Blair said that Coke was terrified of dying, like his father, in a Jamaican prison cell. But the Bishop’s hopes for a truce faltered on Sunday morning, when Coke’s forces attacked police patrols and four police stations, setting fire to at least one. The police commissioner cut off negotiations, and at six o’clock Golding declared a state of emergency in Kingston, giving the security forces expanded powers of search, arrest, and detention. In a briefing that night with Jamaica’s top security officials, the police commissioner, according to someone who spoke to him soon afterward, warned that as many as two hundred people might die.
(2)Blair, who had served in the Jamaican National Guard, was skeptical of claims that a massacre had taken place. He said that when he met with Coke in Java before the attack, to try to negotiate a resolution, he saw roughly a hundred gunmen with him. “There is a script that is written, whenever police are involved,” he told me. “People will all say the same thing.” Witter, a former journalist, whose office investigates constitutional violations and cases of injustice, took the allegations seriously.
Schwartz alluded to living and being around Tivoli Gardens for a little while before he wrote his 8 page Article. My first impulse was that I would not read what he wrote. My inclination is that I don’t need a New York interloping elitists to tell me what I have lived and breathed, I refer to Jamaica, but I read the article nontheless.
Let me state categorically that I was not in Tivoli Gardens when the security forces went in to annex it to Jamaica, neither was Mattathias Schwartz. Moving to Langley Virginia and spending some time at the Central Intelligence Agency certainly does not make me a CIA agent and it damn sure does not make me an authority on spying.
Even though I provided a link to Schwartz’s Article, I have also pulled two paragraphs which I believe are a direct contradiction of the headline of his article and the sensationalism surrounding the very article itself, these two paragraphs are in blue ink.
In the first instance Schwartz said quote: “By the week-end Tivoli was filled with armed men”.
In the second instance he alluded to speaking to Bishop Herro Blair a prominent Jamaican clergy-man who is the political ombudsman, and a known JLP affiliate, who attested to the fact that he saw roughly a hundred gunmen when he went into Tivoli to meet with Coke toward working out a resolution.
So there were practically scores of armed mercenaries ready to topple the state, conversation over , let’s go home, lets make sure it never happens again right?
We Jamaicans did not need an interloper to tell us these things, we saw the attacks which killed police officers and members of our military, we saw the police stations burning, we saw the barricades, we saw the outpouring of love and adulation for the don. we saw the deserted streets. Where in America or any other country in the civilized world would that be tolerated ?
The city of Boston was shut down tighter than a jail after the marathon bombers committed their acts, the rule of law prevailed. Schwarts talks about police killings by the numbers as it relates to killings of the NYPD, is this guy for real ? Does he seriously compare Jamaica with New York City? Furthermore where is Schwartz over all the years when young minority men are being gunned down by the NYPD? did he write an article condemning those cops in the Abner Louima case,? What about Ammadio Dialo? What about the scores of nameless faceless others? Is Schwartz too much of a coward to criticize the powerful NYPD, or, are the lives of young African-American and Latino males not important to him?
Even as he tells the truth about Bishop Blair’s account of witnessing roughly a hundred armed men, Schwartz attempted to cast doubt on the Bishops account by trying to link him to the security forces. Bishop Blair has been a long time supporter of the JLP, he had no axe to grind, he told the truth.
In the end, the ultimate source of schwartz’s story are the very same people whom he admitted, confessed they will be killed if they spoke to certain truths. He reported about the large cache of weapons which was recovered, yet he counters by saying initially that only a few guns were recovered, and yes he speaks with certainty that there really was not much of a fire-fight even though he was nowhere around.
Mattathias Schwartz is just another sensationalist media type who feed off the unfortunate plight of others for his own benefit, this case is no different. To those who speak out of the sides of their mouths as if they know something , let me say this.
Innocent people get killed in a war-zone, Tivoli was a war-zone, it is regrettable when any innocent person loses his/her life, sometimes it is unavoidable. I understand full well the situation many residents faced that fateful day, do I leave and may never be permitted to return, branded an informer, or do I tough it out? After all they are survivors, the police was never able to do their jobs there, they were always ruled by one don or another, why would this time be any different.
However ‚some of us who have been on the front lines have long known that mercenaries in that community use urban military tactics to fight and retrieve weapons dropped by fallen comrades . This tactic is made possible by laying down a sustained sheet of automatic fire while they retrieve the weapons, leaving the police to explain the dead bodies. Then they bring out the women to mourn. This is now an effective tool of Jamaica’s criminal underworld.
They understood the importance of winning the propaganda war. Coke’s letter purportedly to the community, was one more attempt at that charm offensive.
The gullible Mattathias Schwartz is nothing more than one more pawn to that end.
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The Independent commission of Investigations (INDECOM)was created to investigate civilian complaints against members of Jamaica’s security forces. The Commissioner of the Independent Commission of Investigations, (INDECOM) Terrence Williams says he has asked the Minister of National Security to review a submission on the use of gear covering the faces of security personnel while on operations. The Independent Commission of Investigations is to undertake investigations concerning actions by members of the Security Forces and other agents ofthe State that result in death or injury to persons or the abuse ofthe rights of persons; and for connected matters. The Independent Commission of Investigations Act, repealed the Police Public Complaints Act on April 15, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RMUzoLrj-uU Posted for your information as to what the role of this Agency is as well as the lack of support that is given to the rule of law in Jamaica.http://www.japarliament.gov.jm/attachments/341_The%20Independent%20Commission%20of%20Investigation%20Act,%202010,.pdf 5:02 am, Sun December 18, 2011 Commissioner Williams says he has written to the Police Commissioner, asking that he desists from permitting his officers wearing masks as it is illegal. Mr Williams says the JCF’s Book of Rules does not provide for the wearing of balaclava or ski masks covering the faces of officers He notes that the rules cannot simply be changed by the Commissioner, but by the Minister of National Security. Mr Williams pointed out that while he understands that there may be circumstances when an officer may need to wear a mask, t his need to be done under set policy. The Indecom head wants the Minister of National Security to examine the proposals presented and make recommendations re the wearing of masks.Mr Williams says he has given the Commissioner of Police 60 days to reply to several other recommendations made to assist the public in identifying security forces.“The identification number of police officers should be worn on ballistic helmets and all outer clothing including high visibility vests so the public can identify the police officers they are dealing with. We have given the Jamaica Defense Force sixty days to respond to our recommendations that where the JDF is involved in operations in support of the police so that the JDF soldier and Officer can be identified by the persons they are dealing with” said Mr Williams.
I say once again the problems facing Jamaica are not insurmountable, they require bold leadership. The first order of business is that Jamaicans must stop seeing everything within the narrow lens of 
