DID COCAINE EVER LEAVE ?

Cops in Jamaica have point­ed to what they char­ac­ter­ize as the re-emer­gence of cocaine com­ing from South America. They brag that they have smashed the Lotto scam and cites that as the rea­son cocaine is once again flood­ing the streets of the small car­ribean country.

Even as a sup­port­er of law enforce­ment in Jamaica I some­times have to shake my head in dis­be­lief at some of their utter­ances. First they con­tend­ed that they smashed the cocaine ring which result­ed in the lot­to rack­et, now they claim they smashed the lot­to scam so cocaine is back.

Ok, if you are con­fused you may not be alone, because none of this is true and nev­er will be true. Cocaine nev­er went any­where, and nei­ther will the lot­to scam or any oth­er crime which has the poten­tial to net the actors illic­it income.

The Jamaican Police does not serve the inter­est of the pub­lic or itself as an Agency when it refuse to name the South American Country from which the major­i­ty of cocaine is flow­ing into Jamaica.

It dimin­ish­es what­ev­er lit­tle cred­i­bil­i­ty the Agency may still have left, if any. Much the same way it con­tin­ues not to name dirty crim­i­nals who are attached to either polit­i­cal par­ty when they com­mit crimes.

One of the most effec­tive crime fight­ing tools law enforce­ment has at it’s dis­pos­al is exact­ly the oppo­site of what the Jamaican police does with crim­i­nals, hid­ing their iden­ti­ty. All crim­i­nals must be arrest­ed with fan­fare and made to do what is called a perp-walk for the cam­eras. Shaming crim­i­nals must be exploit­ed for what it’s worth, par­tic­u­lar­ly in a coun­try which is lit­er­al­ly inun­dat­ed with crime and terror.

But of course it would be remiss of me to think that the cas­trat­ed lap-dog police force in Jamaica would be able to pull this off. Criminals are crim­i­nals, be they rogue states or peo­ple, whether it be Portia or Azan, Columbia or Panama, the peo­ple need to know that the laws apply to all.

I cau­tion and implore the JCF to stop being a car­toon Police Force and once and for all start learn­ing how to be a cred­i­ble law enforce­ment Agency. The first order of busi­ness is to stop mak­ing stu­pid and inane statements.