I am so tired of the sense of entitlement Jamaicans have when it comes to subjecting themselves to the authority of law enforcement.
We can talk all day about the fact that the country is lawless, we can talk about corruption in some police officers as corruption exists in Parliament, the judiciary and every corner of national life.
We can talk until we are blue in the face about causation and we still won’t solve this problem of a people who think that they should obey no laws.
On the occasion that the Bruce Golding’s administration introduced legislation which we now know as the INDECOM (act), I argued that there were already layers of police oversight. Adding a sixth oversight agency would cripple the ability of the police to do their jobs on the one hand, and on the other, there would be massive increases in attacks and assaults on police and an inexorable upward trend in violent crimes as police officers would drop their hands.
No one listened, you see in Jamaican there are two polar opposites and a thin line of people in the middle, [deep rural folks] who provide the bodies, the sacrifice who join the police department.
The two polar points are of the same mindset ultimately they just have different perches and power.
THE TWO POINTS
(1) A vast majority of illiterates, highly opinionated, they cannot be educated outside of their core beliefs.
(2) A small educated cadre who appoint themselves the [elites], these are the new bourgeoisie, a little education does that to them. Heads so far up their asses they would need a fire hose to clean the shit from their faces in order for them to appreciate their own stupidity.
In fairness to the bourgeoisie, I cannot blame them for placing themselves above the laws when the process they have used to make themselves untouchable have worked for decades.
The blame rests squarely on the doorsteps of the lapdog police high command. This body, save for a few exceptions, absolutely makes me nauseous when I think about its cowardice and lack of backbone.
Years of being yard-boys to politicians and others in the upper crust, not to mention the low-lives from the lower caste with some money to throw around have effectively removed the luster and shine which befits the office of senior police commanders.
No case more sums up that [lapdog-ism] sic than that of James Forbes who threw away his career, his honor and dignity not to mention his pension. Forbes was fined $800’000 or six months imprisonment when all he had to do is tell his so-called friend “go pay for the fucking ticket.”
In case you are wondering about the massive fine, those are reserved for Police officers.[sic] Found guilty of perverting the course of justice they showed Forbes no mercy.
Forbes and far too many in the upper echelons of the force still do not understand that the only reason some within the society crave associations with them is to use them when they get themselves in scrapes such as a speeding ticket. These elitists have no expectation that they should be subject to the courts like common serfs. Once that police power is gone so too are the fairweather friends.
There are two sets of standards one for the old money people and those who passed through the doors of the UWI (police excluded) and then a set of rules for everyone else.
The criteria which separated the society into castes are blood-line, and money. Education has emerged as another component which propels some, once on the outside front and center into the upper caste.
That of course if one never made the mistake of getting stained with the stink of being a police officer.
Some argue pointedly that the Gleaner Article titled “JCF needs shock treatment“l written last week by (Keith trinity Gardner) was a weak attempt at being accepted into the upper crust club, now that he has a law degree and is working on a Ph.D. http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20180211/keith-gardner-jcf-needs-shock-treatment
The event of over a hundred judges walking off their jobs to make a statement in a clear power play against the Prime Minister is a testament that the rules do not apply to them. The events triggering the judge’s actions did not affect a single judge in that group. Clearly, their actions were one of power and standing.
Generally, Police officers, teachers, nurses and other public sector workers are penalized by their superiors for daring to stand up for their right to better wages and working conditions. Gums of all and sundry flap incessantly, each with their own opinions on the actions of those workers, very few with words of empathy and or support.
Judges walk off the job and no one utters a word of condemnation at their power play against the duly elected Prime Minister.
There will not be any lessening of violent crimes by changing who the commissioner is, in the same way blaming the commissioner for the state of affairs is n’t helpful. We must begin to face some facts if ever we are going to begin the process of turning back the epidemic of gun crimes.
There has to be an understanding that there are more people returning as deportees than as regular returning residents.
Whose idea is it that layers and layers of oversight and harassment without even decent uniforms for our police officers add up to a good law enforcement agency? These nonsensical studies coming out of the UWI has no basis in reality but they are heavy on grandiosity.
Security guards have better uniforms, better weapons, better vehicles, work in better buildings and are better paid than our police officers yet there are efforts afoot to change the designation of the JCF from a police force to a police service. What utter and unadulterated bullshit.
The force currently stands at less than full strength, it is short approximately 2’000 officers. According to International standards of police to citizen ratio, Jamaica is woefully short of officers.
The JCF has approximately 12000 members at present it is unable to meet recruitment goals and on the back end, officers are leaving the department at a clip of over 50 each month. That number does not include deaths, dismissals, and retirements.
Recent attempts by the Government as part of its ZOSO legislation to hold cops against their will and criminalize them if the leave without first giving 6 months advanced notice will not help.
As a consequence potential recruits will certainly have second thoughts about joining up all things considered.
The stress derived from overwork, low pay and no appreciation will further erode the morale of officers on the streets.
Crime will inexorably increase given that those with the power continue to blame and mischaracterize the nation’s crime problem as a function of the police as against their own dismal failings.
The simple solutions of modernizing the force by treating officers better and with respect are ignored. As the Government aided by the opposition chases down hifalutin alien concepts cooked up in the (intellectual ghetto).
Providing police officers decent places in which to work, basics accouterments like uniforms and computers would help as against expansive studies and convoluted strategies antithetical to our unique circumstances.
Better pay and remunerations for overtime hours are helpful when officers are called on to produce while simultaneously weeding out dead-woods cops is recommended.How about legislation which removes from the hands of the nations [recently declared Gods] hands, the ability to release murderers back onto the streets regardless of the number of times they kill.
Truth in sentencing and mandatory minimum sentencing for violent crimes committed with the use of guns goes a long way in aiding law enforcement in doing what societies expect from them.How about showing some damn respect to these men and women who risk their lives for the sorry asses of those who sit and criticize. Why would I risk my life for a nation of people like that which exist in our nation today?
The answers are right there, the administration can apply simple common sense approaches as I outlined above, or it can continue on this fool’s errand it is on devised by their idiotic leftist friends up at Mona.
Jamaica is well on it’s way to becoming what Colombia was before and through the 80’s and 90’s. Events of 2010 ought to have been a clarion call to make the necessary changes. The moronic leaders opted instead to blame the last set of people who had culpability, (the security forces), and the sheeple[sic] went along with the ridiculousness.
This country is paying dearly for that betrayal and will continue to do so until someone has the vision to do what is right.