A party promoter and another man were shot dead Tuesday on Spanish Town Road in Kingston while three others were injured in the incident. Dead are 24-year-old Akeem Brown, a promoter of Denham Town, Kingston and 25- year-old Dane Kerr. Reports from the Hunts Bay police are that about 1:50 am, Brown was at an event when armed men entered the premises and opened gunfire at the crowd. They were taken to the hospital where Brown and Kerr succumbed to their injuries and the other three men were admitted in stable condition. see more here: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Five-shot – two-dead-at-party-in-Kingston
KING: How White Privilege Is Allowing White Men Across The Country To Assault Black Men And Beat The Rap
Sean King
On October 22, 2015 a young mentally disabled high school student was sexually assaulted by his classmates on school property. The 18-year-old victim, who was adopted as a toddler, was one of the lone African-American students in the nearly all white Dietrich High School in Idaho. John Howard, 18, Tanner Ward, 17, and one other unidentified member of the football team lured the victim into a school locker room, promising him hugs, stripped him, forcefully inserted a clothes hanger into his rectum, then kicked it deeper into his rectum — causing internal injuries.
When this case was initially reported, and it was announced that John Howard was being charged with felony rape, the possible penalties were as severe as life in prison. It seemed like some semblance of justice was imminent. The school superintendent interviewed 30 witnesses and confirmed that the teen was sexually assaulted. Prosecutors agreed with their investigation — which also determined that the victim was also called “Kool-Aid,” “chicken eater,” “watermelon,” and even “n — -r” by students at the school.
In spite of all of this evidence, this week John Howard was given the break of his life. Instead of getting life in prison for what he did, he won’t be going to jail for 10 years or five years or a year or six months or even a day. Instead, he’s getting two years of probation and 300 hours of community service. With good behavior, the judge said his record could be expunged. He’ll also be allowed to do his community service in his new home in Texas where his family peacefully relocated.
Tanner Ward, who was said to initially insert the hanger into the victim’s rectum, was initially charged as an adult, but conveniently had his case sent to juvenile court instead.
KING: Black teen James Means killed by remorseless white man
How in the hell did this happen?
John McGraw (c.) listens during his hearing on December 14, 2016.
(THE WASHINGTON POST/THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES)
How could a man who did something so heinous, so cruel and demented, so horrific and barbaric, get probation and community service for it? American jails and prisons are full of men and women who did far less and had the proverbial book thrown at them. For several years, I worked full time in prisons and youth detention centers all around Georgia and met thousands and thousands of middle and high school students who were sentenced to hard time in adult prisons for far less.
This sentence is the living embodiment of white privilege.
Such is also the case of John Franklin McGraw. At a Donald Trump rally this past March, while Rakeem Jones was being escorted out of the rally, surrounded by police, McGraw, who is white, walked right up to Jones, who is black, and through a vicious elbow right to his face, knocking him onto the ground.
KING: Pain caused by Dylann Roof makes it impossible to celebrate
After throwing the blow, McGraw, in full view of police, walked right on back to his seat. Even though police witnessed the attack, they seemed to have no interest whatsoever in arresting McGraw for it. Later, in an interview on national television, McGraw openly said of Jones, “the next time we see him, we might have to kill him.” Speaking of the assault, McGraw said “You bet I liked it. Knocking the hell out of that big mouth. We don’t know who he is. He might be with a terrorist organization.”
John McGraw (l.) is accused of hitting Rakeem Jones (r.) as deputies were removing Jones from the Trump rally.
After a bystander’s cell phone video of the attack was released, and a national outcry for justice followed, police, days later, located and charged McGraw with felony assault.
Then, last week, white privilege struck again. McGraw basically beat it all — in spite of the assault being on camera, in front of thousands, including the police, and in spite of his death threat being filmed and aired around the world, the judge had mercy on McGraw. He was given “a suspended 30-day jail sentence and a year on unsupervised probation.”
Normally, as a part of such probation, someone would have to surrender their firearms, but the judge also “removed a provision from the probation that would have kept McGraw from owning a gun.”
KING: Masked white men harass indigenous people in North Dakota
In other words, McGraw pretty much got everything he wanted, including extra provisions to keep his guns, in spite of the fact that he threatened to kill Jones on national television.
While Rakeem Jones was being escorted out of the rally, surrounded by police, McGraw, who is white, walked right up to Jones, who is black, and through a vicious elbow right to his face, knocking him onto the ground.
It’s all so damn ludicrous. That McGraw even felt the confidence and peace of mind to go up and assault Jones in front of police, then take his seat, tells us that he knew full well that law enforcement and the justice system would have little interest in holding him accountable for his actions. It turned out, McGraw was absolutely correct.
Again, I personally know men and women who are spending hard time in prison right now for doing far less, but McGraw was given break after break after break.
I’ve said it before, and I must say it again — this justice system is not broken. It’s functioning just the way it was designed and built to function. It’s firing on all cylinders. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-white-privilege-white-men-assault-black-men-article‑1.2917496
Gender .crime. And Assaulting Police Officers.…
There is a sense of Karma in literally every action we take .
The Religious ascribe the consequences of our actions to a God who see to it that we are punished for whatever negative actions we engage in, and rewarded for the positives we do.
Me, I believe in God, yet I am far less attuned to the notion of God sitting somewhere keeping score of the actions of mankind with the intention to punish and reward as the case may demand.
I believe our world is set up on principles.
Those principles dictate but not guarantee good results when we strive toward certain goals. They also respond the same way when we engage in actions which are evidently counterproductive.
We have the ability to pick ourselves up and try again when we fall down, but we can also chose not to get up, it’s all up to us.
ACTIONS/CONSEQUENCES
For years we Jamaicans watched our society devolve into a lawless jungle where the privileged create a society in which they live above the laws they created. While the not so well connected are allowed to tear at each other like vultures ripping at rotten carcass.
What is the difference between the lives of women and children over that of men?
For years men have been murdered and the society hardly bats an eye. Children gets abused and killed no one cared really.
Now women are being killed and all of a sudden the sky is falling?
I don’t think so!!!
Life is life. none is more important than the other, this selective outrage about the killing of women is nauseating.
I am reminded of a joke I shared with a friend a couple of years ago. He pointed to a silly trend in the dance-hall industry, literally everyone has a tribute song to their mama.
He argued that many who sang about their mama were actually raised by their single fathers who moved mountains to take care of them.
Even when they are raised in homes in which they had a mother and father they paid tribute to their mothers and not their fathers.
The significance of that is far deeper than just whats likely to sell records or earn a few forwards in the dance-halls but I will deal with that at another time.
It’s kinda like the litany of girl’s schools against the few all boys schools.
The Bureau of women’s affairs.
Still waiting for someone to provide me with the address to the bureau of men’s affairs.[sic]
Then they wonder why the young men are out in the streets raping, maiming and killing while the women are filling the halls of academia.
The women are getting killed like everyone else, the calls to “stop killing our women” are simply another retarded way in which the society look at gender in Jamaica.
Not to be outdone, the dance-hall artistes ‚(remember them)they have joined the chorus, calling for the killing of women to end.
That’s all good, but then they added the ridiculous, as they were certainly expected to do.
“How the race a gu continue wen unuh kill aaf de woman dem”?
I know right?
No need to worry about the killing of men.
Society can simply source semen from the nearest river or stream, but we gotta protect the women at all cost.[sic]
We really don’t need men as long as we preserve the women.
You ever wondered why throughout history there has been poverty?
Well in many cases poverty is not just poverty of financial resources, it is a poverty of common sense. Poverty of intellect. People militating against their owns self-interest making the case of others.
Jamaican women were always side by side with the crime culture.
“Missa Beckles mi like yu but yu a police, yu nu have nu money, fi mi man haffi teef , mi like nice tings”
You know how they say that in that downtown drawl lips turned up ? I smile at that even as the seriousness of that thinking was never lost on me.
Sure they know the men are robbing and killing innocent people for the money they bring them,> Does it matter to them?
Hell no!!!
Sure they go out and demonstrate against the police claiming they saw the killing at 4:00 am and it was murder ‚knowing they are lying .
They do so anyway.
When their men fight the timid poorly trained police officers in the streets listen to hear the loudest voices egging on the men.
The chickens are coming home to roost. If you associate with blood thirsty killers surely one day they are going to turn on you.
It’s extremely difficult to sleep with skunks and not have the stench rub off on you.
It is shocking to see what Jamaica has come to. Police officers being mobbed in the streets, afraid to defend their own lives.
Supervisors leaving their juniors, to deal with growing mobs while they hide and shelter away from the fray.
Don’t even mention the women cops who simply stand there like window dressing. I mean what purpose do they really serve?
As I have asked repeatedly where is the training, where is the esprit de corp?
Police officers do not run from mobs, Police officers do not show fear.
♦Real police officers hold their ground in mob situations, weapons pointed steadily at the leader of that mob.
♦Do not flinch.
♦Give clear, concise, loud , lawful commands.
♦Officers have a right to be safe from assault and death in the execution of their lawful duties.
♦Do not fire warning shots.
♦Point the weapon straight at the forehead as soon as he steps too close to assault you fire, dropping him dead.
♦Maintain your stance, the next person who steps up to assault you, same treatment.
That’s my training , that’s police training. No (i.n.d.e.c.o.m) law can take away any police officer’s right to do their job, to protect their lives first and foremost.
If the commissioner of i.n.d.e.c.o.m attempts to assault an officer in the execution of their sworn duties he is entitled to the very same treatment.
Period.
Grave Digging: A Lucrative Business In Rural Jamaica
AN inexperienced selector blasts music from portable speaker boxes, pockets of smoke permeate the air from the pots of vendors, young and old dance up a storm — it is grave-digging time and grave digging is a lucrative business in rural Jamaica.
“When it a gwaan good you sell, trust me, but when it poor a just suh,” said Charmaine Douglas-West, a vendor looking to benefit from the day’s business.
“Mi work inna bar in general, but mi seh, ‘you know, bar slow inna di day’, so mi come out here. You see people do it and you seh ‘alright mek mi try it’. And it work, trust mi; it work because even when mi sell at di ninth night den mi get good sale. Mi follow some of the bands dem and dem will call mi sometimes and tell mi where dem playing,” she continued as she watched the day’s proceedings at the Buff Bay cemetery in Portland.
Wednesday is the traditional grave-digging day for parishes in eastern Jamaica and many seek to benefit from it. The Jamaica Observer North East team observed nine graves being dug in the neighboring parishes of St Mary and Portland.
“It’s a way to earn, trust me,” those attending will tell you, while advising that you exercise patience coupled with a sociable demeanour to meet your goal.
That is how you get by, that is how you capitalise on earnings from those mourning or celebrating the dead.
“Yuh have some places weh yuh can’t give it out in private to the funeral home. Yuh have to give it to community people or dem will vex and seh how yuh nuh mek dem help you bury your family and dig di grave,” Patrick Green said from the back of his van, which was loaded with items for sale.
Green noted that sales for the day depends heavily on the person who has died or that dead person’s family.
“Some people carry a bigger crowd. The more famous the person is or family member, the bigger the grave digging. Normally mi bring mi sound, play some gospel, then some big people music, then later on down inna di evening when it touch 5 o’clock mi play di young people dem song,” he said as he described how he operates on a typical grave digging day.
For Calvin Hill, a man who has spent 27 years digging graves, business is always good.
“Sometimes mi get five, sometimes mi get six, according to how di people dem dead. Mi will bury five Saturday and four Sunday regularly you know,” he explained, though admitting that he would dig graves every day if it were up to him.
For the Portlander, it is the easiest way to make $8,000 — digging the earth four feet deep, then finishing up with six blocks.
“Yeah man, a suh mi mek mi money. Mi nuh work wid parish council; mi mek mi money offa di people. I work with di people. You come and doing a grave, I work with you, you give me something.
“Yuh come and mi seh, ‘Bwoy, gimmi a $8,000,’ and yuh can’t pay dat, mi naah kill yuh. Yuh seh, ‘rastaman, yuh know seh mi can’t pay eight,’ mi seh ‘give mi five’. A it help mi fi live,” Hill added.
While concurring that it’s a job many would shy away from, the 57-year-old said it is something he loves.
“I don’t afraid of nothing. You see on earth, only live people can do you things. Dead people can’t do you nothing. A live people obeah yuh, a live people shoot yuh, a live people stab yuh. Mi an’ dem [duppy] live an’ dem never do mi nothing from mi an’ dem live.
“I am here every day and somebody soon come in and mi have a food to eat. A suh mi live. Wi must affi die; yuh think mi count out myself? I would never do that. a nuh mi mek life, a God mek life,” Hill said. Story originated here : http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Grave-digging – A‑lucrative-business-in-rural-Jamaica_84026
R.I.P Craig Sager
Through popularity and sickness, Craig Sager was always humble, hard-working reporter .……
Craig Sager was always in on the joke. That’s what you liked about him. He was the guy that found the proper balance between taking his job seriously but never himself. The kind of person you wanted to be around.
That’s why Sager worked so well with Marv Albert and Charles Barkley, the resident wise guys at Turner Sports who made Sager and his colorful outfits the butt of the countless jokes for nearly two decades.
When Howard Cosell was at the height of his popularity, having him and ABC’s Monday Night Football in your city meant it was a big event. Sager and his wardrobe did the same for the NBA and TNT on Thursday’s.
We were seated next to each other in Boston nearly 10 years when an irate Knicks fan — is there any other kind? — threw his jersey onto the court once the Celtics extended their lead to 50. Sager looked at me, smiled, and said that it may be a while “before the Knicks are back on TNT again.”
Sports world reacts to the loss of TNT’s NBA reporter Craig Sager
“He understood that the job was about entertainment and presentation,” said his long-time colleague and friend Scooter Vertino. “Craig never lost sight of that.”
NBA players show their appreciation for Sager at the ESPY awards earlier this year. (CHRIS PIZZELLO/CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP)
Vertino was a field producer when he first met Sager 21 years ago, a kid trying to make a name in the business while learning from an established reporter. Read more here : http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/craig-sager-humble-hard-working-reporter-article‑1.2912379
Dylann Roof Convicted Of Murdering 9 Black Charleston Churchgoers
A jury took two hours to find him guilty of one of the most notorious crimes in modern American history. Now he faces life in prison or execution.
CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Dylann Roof was convicted of one of America’s most notorious crimes on Thursday, found guilty of committing a massacre of nine black worshipers who had welcomed him into the basement of Emanuel A.M.E. Church.
Among a slew of mass killings in recent years, the bloodbath during a Bible study was notable for its setting; the brutal, racially motivated killings occurred suddenly within the hallowed walls of a historic, black Southern church. The crime was also notable for the contrast between the starkly racist views of its perpetrator and the kindness of his victims, who had offered Roof a chair and Bible as they began a weekly discussion on June 17, 2015.
Roof joined the group that warm evening for nearly an hour, laughing along with his hosts, all while he concealed a handgun and magazines of bullets in a pack around his waist. When the worshipers stood to pray, closing their eyes, Roof took the opportunity to open fire, quickly killing the majority of occupants in the room, starting with the pastor, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who sat beside him. Three people survived, including one woman, Felicia Sanders, who described Roof as “evil, evil evil as can be” in testimony last week.
“There is no place on Earth for him except the pit of hell,” testified Sanders, who watched Roof murder her 26-year-old son, Tywanza Sanders, and eight others.
Jurors deliberated for two hours before convicting Roof of 33 charges, which included firearm crimes, religious obstruction crimes, and hate crimes. They will return to court in January to decide upon a punishment of life imprisonment or the death penalty. Roof, who stared ahead blankly throughout the entire trial, has elected to serve as his own attorney during this sentencing phase on January 3.
During closing arguments Thursday morning at the Charleston Federal Courthouse, Roof’s attorney David Bruck conceded his client shot and killed nine people for racially motivated reasons, but asked jurors to go beyond the grisly facts of the case and consider why Roof attacked the unsuspecting worshipers. Read more here>http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/15/dylann-roof-convicted-of-murdering-9-black-charleston-churchgoers.html
Dylann Roof’s Chilling Question: ‘Did I Shoot You Yet?’
Polly Sheppard was hiding when the racist gunman who killed nine of her fellow black parishioners said he was sparing her life so she could “tell the story.”
CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Snatching the cell phone of a dead friend off the floor, Polly Sheppard tried to dial 911 as a killer stalked the basement of her church.
Hiding beneath a table in the midst of a bloodbath, Sheppard became fumble fingered, unable to dial the three digits on her first try. As nine fellow worshipers lay dead or dying around her, Sheppard tried dialing again, this time with success.
“Please answer,” she said in nervous tones as the phone rang. “Oh God.”
A dispatcher soon picked up the line, asking about her emergency.
“There’s plenty people shot,’ said Sheppard. “He shot the pastor. He shot all the men in the church. Please come right away.”
“He’s still in here. I’m afraid. He’s still in here,” continued Sheppard. “He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming. Please.”
This scene was recalled during testimony by Sheppard on Wednesday during the federal trial of 22-year-old Dylann Roof, who is accused of the racially motivated killing of nine black men and women during a Bible study at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston on June 17, 2015.
Sheppard survived the attack, allegedly spared by Roof so that she might serve as a witness to his massacre in the historic black church in downtown Charleston. She was the final witness for the prosecution in a week-long case in which Roof, charged with 33 federal counts including hate crimes, faces the death penalty. After Sheppard’s testimony the defense rested their case without calling a single witness, unable to persuade a judge to allow the testimony of two mental-health experts. Roof declined to take the stand in his own defense.
After likely hearing closing arguments from each side on Thursday morning, a jury is expected to begin considering Roof’s guilt, weighing the previous testimony of shooting survivors, police, and forensic experts, as well as a taped confession and a racist manifesto, all of which was capped by Sheppard testifying about her near brush with death.
She recalled how tired she felt that evening, hoping to go home and eat after a full day volunteering at the church.
But Myra Thompson pleaded with her to remain for evening Bible study, and Sheppard could not deny her strong-willed friend. Roof also joined the prayer group that evening and was handed a pamphlet about the day’s lesson as well as a Bible. He sat next to the church’s pastor, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney.
Nearly an hour later, as Sheppard stood in prayer with her eyes closed, she heard a loud popping noise. She dismissed the noise as sparking from faulty electrical wiring, but soon thought better when another friend, Felicia Sanders, screamed that Roof was shooting everyone.
Sanders and her granddaughter survived by playing dead, and Sheppard herself dove for safety under a table as Roof allegedly began his shooting rampage. Nine others in the room were not so fortunate to escape Roof. When Sanders’s wounded 26-year-old son Tywanza asked Roof why he was doing this, Sheppard heard Roof reply, “I have to. I have to. You’re raping our women and taking over the nation.” Roof then allegedly shot Tywanza Sanders again, killing him.
When Roof saw Sheppard alive under the table, he asked if she had been harmed.
“Did I shoot you yet?” Sheppard recalled Roof asking her as he pointed a gun at her body.
“No,” replied Sheppard.
“I’m not going to,” Roof said. “I need you to tell the story.”
So Sheppard told the sordid story Wednesday at the Charleston Federal Courthouse, recalling the events that led to the death of her friend Thompson and the eight other victims, ages 26 to 87. During her testimony a recording of her 911 call was played, in which she described Roof as a “young, 21-year-old white dude” who was still roaming the church with a loaded handgun.
Before relating the details of the shooting on Wednesday, Sheppard reminisced about the victims, many of whom she knew well and none of whom could escape the hailstorm of at least 74 bullets allegedly fired from Roof’s handgun.
Daniel Simmons, 74, was known as “Dapper Dan” because of his sharp wardrobe that included monogrammed shirts, cufflinks, and brightly polished shoes.
“He used to dress very nice all the time,” Sheppard said of Simmons, who was shot at least six times according to a medical examiner who testified before Sheppard on Wednesday.
Church sexton Ethel Lance, 70, who was charged with keeping the church clean, always went the extra mile said Sheppard. She made the church smell good and put hand lotion in church restrooms.
“We don’t have that anymore,” said Sheppard, recalling the late contributions of Lance, who was shot at least six times.
Pastor Pinckney was known by Sheppard as “the gentle giant” because of his tall stature and compassion for the elderly. Also a South Carolina state senator, the 41-year-old Pinckney was shot at least five times.
Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, a 45-year-old high school track and field coach and mother of three adolescent children, was an excellent preacher that drew crowds at church.
“I could see her making bishop fast,” Sheppard said of Coleman-Singleton, also shot at least five times.
DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49, who could “sing like an angel” and was a mother to four young women and girls, died after being shot at least eight times.
Librarian Cynthia Hurd, 54, who always flashed a smile and led book discussions at church, died after being shot at least seven times.
Susie Jackson, 87, was a good cook and “always sweet, sweet,” said Sheppard. Jackson died after suffering at least 10 gunshots.
Tywanza Sanders, Sheppard said, was a happy poet and barber. He, too, was shot at least five times.
And Sheppard’s friend Thompson, 59, who had begged her to stay for Bible study, was sometimes charmingly bossy but also generous to the needy. Roof allegedly shot her at least eight times.
“Oh Lord have mercy,” Sheppard recalled Thompson saying as she died on the church basement floor.
Roof’s defense attorney, renowned death penalty lawyer David Bruck, did not cross examine Sheppard, as has been his custom with most of the prosecution’s witnesses. Bruck conceded early in the trial that he does not quibble with the government’s version of events. He has offered to plead Roof guilty to his alleged crimes in exchange for a life sentence, but the government has declined the offer and opted to press for the death penalty.
Should a jury convict Roof of the most serious charges, they will then consider whether the young man from Eastover, South Carolina — located about 100 miles from Charleston — should spend his life behind bars or be executed.
Roof has elected to represent himself during the sentencing phase of the trial, removing his lawyers despite being told such a strategy was “unwise” by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel. Roof, who stared blankly ahead during Sheppard’s entire testimony, previously jettisoned his lawyers during jury selection only to recall them before opening arguments.
Before jury selection he was deemed competent to stand trial following a mental evaluation. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/14/dylann-roof-s-chilling-question-did-i-shoot-you-yet.html
JetBlue Flight Attendant From Queens Who Fled Airport After Attempt To Smuggle Cocaine Pleads Guilty In Scheme
Her baggage now includes a felony conviction.
The JetBlue flight attendant from Queens who kicked off her designer heels and sprinted down an up escalator when caught with 60 pounds of cocaine in her luggage at LAX last March pleaded guilty to conspiracy Monday. Marsha Gay Reynolds, 32, appeared in Los Angeles federal court wearing a white jail uniform and entered her plea to one felony count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute.She faces 10 years to life in prison at her sentencing set for March 13.
JetBlue employee charged with smuggling coke due in court
“She’s doing fine. She’s not a jailbird,” her lawyer Stuart Goldfarb told the Daily News after the hearing. “This is the first time she’s been charged with anything like this.” He declined to say how much his client knew about the multimillion-dollar cocaine trafficking scheme, but stressed Reynolds’ plea was not tied to any agreement with prosecutors to testify against possible co-conspirators. “If someone accepts responsibility, there’s a possibility of (her) getting less time,” he said. “(But) she’s not cooperating. She’s not doing that.”
Drug mule cuffed at Kennedy Airport in failed smuggling attempt
The Jamaica-born former beauty pageant contestant — a runner-up in the Miss Jamaica World pageant in 2008 — was paid thousands of dollars to smuggle carry-on bags through airport screening checkpoints and then hand them off to a co-conspirator on the other side before the individual boarded flights, prosecutors said.
As a JetBlue employee, Reynolds had access to the Known Crew Member (KCM) checkpoints that are generally exempt from TSA baggage screening except in rare cases of random searches.
Authorities say she left behind 60 pounds of cocaine after flinging off her heels and running from security at Los Angeles International Airport.
(LOS ANGELES AIRPORT POLICE)
Prosecutors said Reynolds and the co-conspirator — identified only by the initials G.B. in court records — traveled together between New York and Los Angeles on multiple flights between October 2015 and March 2016.
It was March 18 that Reynolds was attempting to get the 60 pounds of cocaine through a KCM checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport when she was flagged by the computer for a bag search.
JetBlue launches flights from Kennedy Airport to Havana
She became visibly agitated and spoke to someone on her cell phone in what sounded like a foreign language before she ditched her shoes and made her daring dash, leaving the bags behind, court documents said. Security officials opted to worry about the risk posed by the abandoned luggage rather than chase after her, and she disappeared from the terminal, the court paperwork said. Her co-conspirator boarded a flight and later tried to persuade Reynolds to flee to Jamaica, authorities said. Instead, Reynolds staffed a flight back to New York on March 19, then failed to show up for work the next day, according to court documents.
Turbulence on JetBlue flight sends 24 to Rapid City hospital
She was arrested March 23 after meeting with G.B. in New York and receiving a “burner phone” to communicate without government surveillance, court documents said. Already in the U.S. illegally and using stolen identities, G.B. boarded a flight from New York to Miami on March 23 and then fled to Jamaica, authorities said. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles said he couldn’t comment on any effort to find and charge G.B., calling the case an ongoing investigation. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/jetblue-flight-attendant-queens-guilty-cocaine-scheme-article‑1.2908347
Almost One Year Later Scum Who Killed Two Cops Still At Large.…
On December 22nd 2015 at about 8: 00 Pm Corporal Kenneth Davis attached to Protective Services Division and Constable Craig Palmer, attached to the Kingston Western Division were killed in a hail of gunfire. The two were off duty and among a group of men enjoying a friendly game of dominoes at Poor Mans corner in the Parish of Saint Thomas when they were savagely slaughtered in cold blood ‚another person present was also injured in the incident.
At the time of the killings then Minister of National Security Peter Bunting issued the following statement.
“This demonstrates the risk that the police are constantly exposed to by virtue of their occupation and incidents of this nature remind us of the extremely difficult challenges facing the security forces, and the great sacrifices they continue to make in the fight to rid Jamaica of the scourge of crime and violence.”
Bunting noted that one of the officers killed was from the Kingston West Division, which had already lost two members of their team that year in violent attacks.
Bunting pleaded with members of the public to help the police in their investigations by providing them with information that may lead to the apprehension of the perpetrators. “I express deepest condolences to the families, colleagues, and communities that have tragically lost these policemen and call upon all law abiding citizens to support the police in apprehending the culprits of this heinous crime, ” he said.
The Commissioner of Police said “no stone will be left un-turned in the quest to bring the killers to justice”.
Immediately after the killings the police high command named Marlon (duppy film) Perry as the shooter.
The speed with which the police released this information at the time suggested to this writer that the police had been sitting on information that Perry was an imminent threat to officers and had done nothing about it.
To corroborate my hunch local media reported that The West St Thomas MP James Robertson said he had received information that one of the cops murdered in the parish had been receiving threats over an incident years ago.
Robertson did not give details of the alleged incident, but called for the police High Command to release all the information they had and to seek help. According to him, other police personnel in the parish have also been receiving threats. Robertson who is a Jamaica Labour Party MP member says he will meet with the High Command to provide the information he has received.
We are unsure whether Robertson ever met with the police leadership in the Parish or any other police officers to provide the information he supposedly had.
We do not know whether he met with the Island’s crime Chief ACP Élan Powell and if so why not ?
Who did Robertson meet with to tell what he knew?
We are also skeptical as to the reasoning as well. If Robertson had information which clearly was important, (two police officers are dead) ‚why did he not simply pick up the phone and make that information known to the Police ?
If Robertson provided information after the fact to the Police, what is the nature of that information?
Why has the police literally not done anything about this case?
Powell is the Assistant Commissioner of Police with responsibility for crime .
Mister Commish My Sources Can’t Recall Seeing The Police Looking Under Any Rock.….…..
I want to know from Powell why nothing has been done regarding the death of these two innocent police officers?
Where is this filthy cop killer ?
If he is not on the small Island of 4411 square miles and 2.8 million citizens , where is he?
Who in position of power and influence helped him to evade justice ?
Don’t tell me that the police including Carl Williams and Élan Powell who has responsibility to bring killers to justice do not know where this piece of scum is, and if so what is preventing them from bringing him to justice, or more appropriately bringing justice to him?
How pathetic is the police department that it allows a common piece of garbage to snuff out the lives of two honest police officers without bringing him to justice.
Where is the constabulary force’s obligation to the families of these two slain officers?
Where else on this planet could a common low-life kill two police officers and not be exterminated?
As critical as it is for this scum to be brought to justice or have justice gift wrapped and delivered to him , it is even more critical that whomever is associated with, assisted his flight, or is supporting him in any way, that the very same standards be applied to them.
Which means that the same plight those officers suffered must be the remedy applied to whomever supports , and enabled/s him.
Whomever they hell they are.
LIKE AND SHARE THIS ARTICLE , LETS BRING THIS GARBAGE TO JUSTICE.
Police High Command Placing Officers Lives At Severe Risk While Issuing Threat Levels To Them…
Almost three decades ago tactical units like the Ranger Squad were front and center in the fight against Jamaica’s bloodthirsty killers and rapists.
After the high profile sweeps and operations were concluded these officers including myself would go back to the Mobile Reserve change into civilian clothes and go stand at a bus-stop waiting for one of the crammed roving disasters which traversed South Camp Road under the guise of public transport to get home.
Nothing is wrong with public transportation, in fact major developed metropolises in Asia , Europe and even the United States has demonstrated that public transportation can be quite effective in moving huge amounts of people in densely populated centers.
Police officers at that time were poorly paid and could barely afford rental above cross roads , which effectively forced us to live in communities with high incidents of crime.
In other words officers were forced to live in the very communities they just went in to remove the urban terrorists.
Thirty years ago there was an inordinate amount of guns in the hands of the Island’s criminals, today the amount of guns and ammunition in their hands is mind boggling.
Thirty years ago the hierarchy of the JCF steadfastly refused to allow rank and file police officers the basic right to carry home their service weapons to protect the lives of their families and their own lives.
Ironically the khaki-clad imbeciles who made those decisions did not take public transportation home.
They carried firearm.
Could afford to live in decent low crime communities.
And they had minimal to no negative interaction with the public.
So even though they were not targeted, they lived in safer neighborhoods , were not exposed to the dangers of dealing with the killers on public transportation and had reserved and maintained the means to defend themselves , they denied the people under their supervision those same rights.
Many people criticize me because of the uncompromising stance I took against the hierarchy of the force not just after leaving it but also during my brief tenure as a police officer.
For the most part I thought they were grossly corrupt. Grossly incompetent. Grossly ignorant. Grossly stupid, and gross political imbeciles but for a few exceptions.
On more than one occasion their corrupt practices placed the lives of junior officers including my own at risk. For those transgressions I will not be forgiving.
Today these imbeciles are doing the very same things they were doing yesteryear.
They are steadfastly refusing to allow front-line officers the basic right to carry their service weapons at all time.
Today Jamaica is flooded with high powered weapons of all kinds and they are all in the hands of the criminal underworld.
They kill anyone, including police officers without batting an eye.
The Police high command issues warnings to officers about the threats against their lives. encouraging them to protect themselves at all times.
Even as Carl Williams the commissioner of police and his bunch of bang-bellied lackeys issue these advisory’s, they systematically take the weapons from officers, making defense of their lives a certain exercise in futility, an impossibility even.
Sure they can apply for licences for personal firearms but it takes approximately six months to a year to a get a license from the FLA the agency responsible for issuing firearms licences. Police officers get no special treatment even there. Their lives do not matter.
The JCF sets up the rank and file officers to be killed .
This is nothing new . Years ago a small group of us were sent to Runaway Bay on special assignment , one evening a colleague and I were sitting in a bar and lounge in Priory when a group of well dressed men at one section of the bar sent us over four beers , we accepted the beers but almost immediately sent them four beers as well.
One gentlemen bellowed” your money nu good ere offica” , we were stunned, how could they have know we were cops?
The well dressed man pulled me aside to a corner and handed me an envelope with some cash, I took it opened it , thanked him and handed it back to him, I thanked him but explained to him that we were okay.
I only wanted answers to one question, “how could he have known we were police officers”.
He told us our superiors tell them everything, including that we were coming to the area.
On another occasion I was one of two uniformed officers and a small group of soldiers dropped from helicopter into the hills of Westmoreland , supposedly to watch an illegal airstrip and intercept any aircraft landing to transport Marijuana out . Six days later without any cover other than that which the trees offered, rain-drenched then sun-dried I decided to call the Mobile Reserve to find out when we would be picked up. The duty officer told me he didn’t even know we were there.
Upon breaking camp a young man herding some goats told us we were laughing stock as his boss already knew we were there.
Our superiors had told them.
Imagine the risk to our lives, being in the woods not knowing that the very people who sent us were the very people who told the airstrip owner exactly where we were.
Then came the irony of all ironies, the very same person sent his driver to take us to the military base in Moneague, so we could hitch a ride back to Kingston that Saturday evening.
Having had only military dried rations, having been drenched with rain dried to a crisp in the sun and almost eaten alive by Mosquitoes did nothing to kindle the anger in me as much as the betrayal did.
The moronic arguments the police brass used then, is the moronic argument they use today.
They cannot trust young officers to take guns home.
How can you entrust a person with the awesome powers of a police officer,which includes that of life and death over others, yet argue that you are unable to trust them with guns?
Some including past members have said simply disband the force, I am now in agreement in theory, even as I am completely conversant of its practical impossibility.
Notwithstanding, as a matter of practicality ‚when a team performs poorly it is always up to the coaching and management staff to assume responsibility.
Since we have to source Jamaican officers from the same dirty pool from which we source the filthy dishonest politicians, lawyers, judges and others , lets work on creating a small cadre of competent leaders in the JCF which understand leadership and not dishonest grandstanding and profiling, the likes of which exists presently.
The problem was never with the young people entering the JCF . The fact is that today the department is bleeding roughly 800 officers through attrition annually.
Do the math on what it takes to train these young people only to see them do a couple of years then decide to leave once they realize what they are up against.
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Next we will talk about real corruption, and the job a single Prime Minister did, highhandedly destroying the ability of the investigative branch of the department to do it’s job resulting in the murder rate we have today and the woefully low rate of murder incarcerations.
Giants’ Victor Cruz Says Racial Slurs In Nikita Whitlock’s Home Reflection Of Donald Trump’s America
Victor Cruz said the racial slurs scrawled on the walls of Giants fullback Nikita Whitlock’s home in Moonachie, N.J, on Tuesday are a direct reflection of the America that elected Donald Trump its next president.
Trump America officially has arrived at 1925 Giants Drive.
“I think it’s definitely a direct reflection of how this country’s being run and how this country’s reacting maybe to some of the decisions, some of the ways that this country’s being run and things that are being said by people at the helm of this country and at the helm of our day-to-day lives — our day-to-day from social media all the way up to the White House,” Cruz, 30, a product of nearby Paterson, N.J., said Thursday in the Giants’ locker room. “These are things that are being spoken of and talked about on a daily basis, the good and the bad, more so the bad at this point right now because that’s all we have to work with. It’s just an unfortunate situation we’re going through right now.”
Cruz said he sees graffiti swastika, the initials “KKK” and the message “Go back to Africa” left for Whitlock and his family during a break-in, according to the Giants fullback, as direct reflections of the mindset that is sending Trump to Pennsylvania Avenue. Read more here : http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/victor-cruz-whitlock-vandalism-reflection-american-racism-article‑1.2903492
Prosecutors Quietly Drop Charges Against White Firefighter Who Threatened Black Couple With A Gun
Carges were abruptly dropped against a Savannah, Georgia, firefighter accused of threatening a black couple at gunpoint and telling them his badge entitled him to kill them with impunity.
The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that charges against Barry Arnold were inexplicably dropped in September after the government failed to prosecute. The couple who bore the brunt of Arnold’s drunken, racist meltdown want to know why. In October of 2015, Marquist Curtis and his fiancée, Amber Phillips were eating dinner at a Savannah Applebee’s restaurant when they heard a drunken and agitated Arnold — who was voted 2014 Savannah Firefighter of the Year — use racist slurs against his server, a black woman. Then, when he noted Curtis and Phillips, he began to direct his ire at them.
“He’s saying, ‘I got those black ass ribs just like those ni**ers,’” Curtis told the Beast. “He looked over at my fiancée and said ‘I can’t stand those ni**ers.’” Curtis reportedly asked Arnold to “calm down,” according to police documents, but Arnold became belligerent and combative, called Curtis a “ni**er” and tackled him. The dispute spilled out into the restaurant’s parking lot where Arnold retrieved a handgun from his car and pointed it at Curtis and Phillips, saying that he would kill them. “He’s walking over with his gun and badge, saying, ‘I’ve got the right to kill you ni**ers,’” Curtis recounted. Restaurant employees, he said, locked the door behind them so they could not return inside to safety. Arnold was charged with misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, public drunkenness and pointing a gun at another.
The Chatham County district attorney’s office told Kate Briquelet at the Beast that the incident is still under investigation, but online records show that no new charges have been filed and that no further action has been taken by prosecutors. Curtis told Briquelet that he is skeptical that city prosecutor Meg Heap will pursue the charges against Arnold. “We just want justice. No more, no less,” Curtis said. “They’re trying to put what he did on hold.” Curtis also said that he had to find out through his attorney that charges have been dropped against Arnold.
“Nobody contacted us,” he said. Heap’s office said that yes, the misdemeanor charges were dropped, but they are considering pursuing felony charges in a higher court. Curtis’ attorney Will Claiborne told the Beast that prosecutors are dragging their feet. “You’ve got a captain in the fire department who pulls a gun on these people and says, ‘With this badge and this gun, I get to kill people and get away with it,’” he said. “The police at the scene stop him while he’s trying to drive away.” Claiborne believes that Arnold should have been charged with driving under the influence, aggravated assault and terrorist threats. He feels that Arnold’s race and city position are factors in the lack of official action. “We want to raise public awareness that this sort of injustice happens in 2016,” Claiborne said. “What would happen to anybody else other than a white captain in the fire department is just shocking.”
He pointed out that if Curtis had pulled a gun of his own in similar circumstances, “he’d still be sitting in jail.” Arnold was terminated from his job with the fire department in the wake of the incident.
UPDATE : Ex-firefighter who threatened to kill black couple indicted on 7 felony counts
The former Savannah firefighter who went on a drunken, racist rampage in an Applebee’s restaurant and menaced a black couple with a gun has been indicted on seven felony counts of aggravated assault.
Savannah Now reported Thursday morning that former Capt. Barry Arnold — Savannah’s 2014 Firefighter of the Year — was indicted by a Chatham County grand jury for attacking and threatening to kill Marquist Curtis and Amber Phillips on October of 2015. “Marquist and Amber are glad this has finally been done,” said Will Claiborne, Curtis and Phillips’ attorney to WSAV. “Frustrated that it took so long. They’re happy to finally see the process move forward. They are one step closer to obtaining some justice to what happened to them and are looking forward to their day in court.” Arnold is currently charged with 7 felonies: Two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of possession of a firearm, public drunkenness, simple battery and disorderly conduct. Raw Story reported Wednesday that the four misdemeanor charges originally filed against Arnold had been quietly dropped. The victims and their supporters thought that Arnold’s race and connections to city government had ensured that prosecutor Meg Heap and the district attorney’s office were dragging their feet with regards to the case.
On a Friday night in October, 2015, Curtis and Williams found themselves threatened with murder during a racially charged run-in with a drunken Arnold. After Arnold violently attacked Curtis inside the restaurant, the altercation spilled outside, where — brandishing a gun and his fire department badge — Arnold told the victims he could murder them and get away with it under the law.
Claiborne said that when Curtis and Phillips tried to flee back inside to get away, they found that restaurant workers had locked the door.
“If you have a drunken virulent racist in your establishment you have an obligation to everyone there to make that establishment safe,” the attorney said. The restaurant is liable for its handling of the incident, Claiborne said, and arresting officers on the night of the crime only charged Arnold with four misdemeanors and did not cite him for attempting to drive away from the scene while intoxicated. “Law enforcement on the scene should’ve appropriately charged Mr. Arnold. He should’ve been taken immediately to jail,” Claiborne said. “He should’ve been booked on felony charges. If anyone else, particularly an African American, had committed these acts that individual would be put directly in jail and probably would still be there.”
No trial date is currently set for Arnold. http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/ex-firefighter-who-threatened-to-kill-black-couple-indicted-on-7-felony-counts/
Corruption In Jamaica Not Confined To The Inept Police: Shit Flows Downstream.….
Remarkably whenever the issue of corruption comes up for debate in Jamaica the conversation automatically defaults to the police.
One would have to divest oneself of reality to fall into the trap both political parties created in our country, in order to believe that the police department is the ground zero of corruption on the Island.
As opposed to the factual reality that the two political parties are populated with thieves, liars and allegedly even those who pay to have other Jamaicans murdered.
Every rational person knows that shit does not flow upstream.
This is the reason that comments attributed to Zachery Phillips, the deputy chief assistant US attorney for the District of Colorado are spot on. Phillips who is assigned to the Organised Crime Drug Task Force,is in Jamaica to address an Anti-Corruption Round-table organised by the US Embassy and the University of the West Indies’ Department of Government.
Asked about Police corruption on the Island by local media, Phillips a former cop and now attorney said “Our society as a whole has to say ‘hey, we appreciate you as a police officer, but you don’t get special treatment because you’re a police officer’.”
“I go back to my days as a police officer… the free coffee, the free meal, that was accepted 25⁄30 years ago,” he said. “Now it’s not accepted, it’s rejected, so it has to be a change in mentality, not just with the police, but with all of society.”
The question though not outright inane, still demonstrated the myopic context in which journalist and other elements of the wider society view corruption in a narrow prism.
The round-table is supposed to be about corruption. I take that to mean “corruption”, not just police corruption.
Surely the Americans are fully aware of the deep corruption which exist in the Jamaican society as it does the American society.
What they won’t do is scapegoat their law enforcement community as both political parties on the Island have done, resulting ultimately in a chasm between that community and the public they serve.
What the questioner certainly did not anticipate was that Zachary “Zak” Phillips, Drug Task Force Deputy Chief, is still a law-enforcement officer who is also a former cop would not be excoriating law-enforcement.
The endemic culture of corruption in the contracts awards process and other Jamaican Government expenditures are well know and documented.
To date, despite the literal pilfering of untold billions of dollars and other despicable acts of corruption by both political parties in and out of power, not a single politician has been jailed since the late JAG Smith.
The brain dead media, too lazy and complicit to tackle the corruption in Government is quite comfortable to continue with the deception that corruption is confined to the police.
The ineptitude and corruption of the Barney Fyffe police department was created by both the People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labor Party as insurance against jail being a reality for them and their cronies.
This simple fact has seemingly eluded what exists as media on the Island.
Jamaica’s Elites Never Have To Grieve For Their Loved Ones, Hence The Island’s Sympathetic Stance On Murderers…
No greater task may be given any man than to bring the killer of the innocent to justice.
That was what motivated me to strive to be a good detective. That was a motivational theme on my CIB course. As profound as that theme was it came after I decided to become a police officer.
I took the police plunge because I believed fundamentally in the idea of good over evil. Standing up to bullies. That crimes ought to be punished.
I still believe now as I did then, that citizens have a right to be secure in their persons from personal assault and death . I also believe that a person’s property is their own, and should remain so until they decide to divest themselves of said property.
In essence I am totally opposed to criminal conduct of any kind.
Except speeding…cough, cough,(smile).
Losing a loved one is excruciatingly painful, I can only imagine how devastating it must be for family members of victims of violent criminal actions.
Having lost my own child , (albeit not through violent means) , I am particularly sensitive to those who have lost loved ones.
More than anything else , I am incredibly empathetic to the families who have lost loved ones as a result of violent crimes .
As a result I always felt that those who take the lives of the innocent should be held accountable for their crimes .
What that accountability looks like is the prerogative of the state.
Since Governments have taken it upon themselves to be arbiter in these matters of justice/vengeance, it is important that it does what it says it will do and deliver justice to those so aggrieved.
To hear the testimony of family members who manage to survive violent crimes, even as their loved ones are not so lucky, is to understand the heart rending pain they feel.
“It is a pain which does not dissipate, you simply try to survive it” one woman said to me once.
This makes it more critical that our police officers are empowered with all the tools they need to go after murderers.
That prosecutors understand the critical nature of their responsibilities in seeking justice on behalf of those whom have been victimized.
It is important that judges understand that as triers of fact they hold immense power. They get to determine whether a trial proceeds even though a case may not be airtight.
They should never allow a case to simply be tossed on some technicality as if the victim is unworthy of respect.
Like surviving family members are collateral damage of a sick society to be discarded on the dump heap of” oh well we tried”.
Finally it should be outside the remit of any government , much less a single politician to determine that murder cases should be tossed from court dockets so that those dockets may be freed up.
Several years ago I had a back and forth with a Jamaican defense attorney on a social media platform. She was offended that I wrote about the fact that Lawyers are a huge part of the reason cases cannot come to a conclusion in the Jamaican criminal justice system.
She pointed me to a survey done by none other than some of her cohorts at the you guessed it..
The University of the West Indies (the intellectual ghetto) which said that cases are adjourned largely as a result of prosecutors asking for more time not defense counsels.
Sure I’m about to accept a survey from a liberal bastion of socialist gobbledygook. One which trains the very same lawyers, and which is basically the personification of liberal thought.
Liberal thought which has poisoned our culture, turning our country into a cesspool of criminal sanctuary .
The fact of the matter is that lawyers who are unpaid for their services was the number one reason cases got stuck in the system.
Does that mean that police and prosecutors are not tardy as well ?
Hell no !!!
However as time progressed defense lawyers asking for adjournments so that they can be paid accomplished the results mounting a successful defense would.
Dragging out cases was resulting in dismissals ‚including murder cases. Why risk going to trail if simply asking for adjournment after adjournment was going to be granted and the defendant eventually set free?
The strategy of simply asking for adjournments as a defense strategy was born.
It is a strategy which feeds on itself, the more adjournments in the system the more jammed the bottleneck becomes, the more chaotic it becomes.
The more difficult it is to get justice through the courts.
The more difficult it is to get justice through the courts the more crime increases because criminals are emboldened into believing that they will never be held to account for their crimes.
Throw another hurdle in the way of the police (indecom) and crime skyrockets out of control.
Delroy Chuck the Island’s justice Minister wants cases over 5 years old to be tossed from the court dockets.(Including capital murder cases)
This is the quality of the leadership which actively enables crime on the Island.
This is the reason it is so offensive, the proposal of Delroy Chuck that courts should simply throw out cases that has not been concluded in five years.
Yes that includes murder cases.
Chuck is Jamaica’s Minister of Justice, he singularly made the proposal which he hopes will in his mind, clear up the court dockets. At least that’s what he says.
On closer scrutiny,if this hair-brain scheme is allowed to become policy it would be a watershed moment for the rule of law in the country.
It would not only see numerous mass-murderers freed on the say-so of a single individual without having to answer for their crimes.
But more than that it would be a defining moment for the administration of justice on the Island . One which would see stalling as a defense strategy enshrined in our culture if not in actual law.
These are the kinds of actions being proposed and taken in their supposed fight against crime. The (indecom) act being another such instance.
None of these proposals will do anything to improve the criminal justice system, conversely they are assured to make a really bad situation even more critical.
This is what happens when you have system where a single individual, without debate or consensus can make decisions and those decisions are allowed to change an entire country.
The impact is even more devastating when the person making the proposal has zero interest in actually reducing crime but have their own personal agendas.
Man Killed, 24 Arrested As Cops Seize Seven Guns
Two wanted men are among 23 people arrested Monday as the police seized seven illegal firearms and over 200 rounds of ammunition in separate incidents. A 21-year-old man was killed in one instance. In the first incident, which occurred in St James, a police/military operation was conducted on Peddlers Lane in Mount Salem, when two firearms and 150 rounds of assorted ammunition were seized. Reports are that between hours of 4:00 am and 2:00 pm, during the search of a premises police seized two firearms:
- One Colt .45 pistol with six. 45 rounds of ammunition and
- One Taurus .40 pistol with eleven .40 rounds of ammunition.
The lawmen continued their operation and the search of an open lot in the area resulted in the following rounds of ammunition being found:
- Forty-four .44mm rounds
- Forty-five 12-gauge rounds
- Forty-five 7.62 mm rounds
Eighteen people, to include wanted person Oniel Clarke otherwise called ‘Goatie,’ were taken into custody.
In the second incident which occurred in March Town, Green Island, Hanover, lawmen were conducting special operations about 6:00 am, when a red and black knapsack was found. It contained six 5.56 cartridges, twenty-four .45 cartridges and eleven 9mm cartridges.
Five men were taken into custody in relation to this seizure.
The success of the lawmen continued when another wanted man was arrested and a Colt Commander .45 Semi-Automatic Pistol with a magazine containing nine rounds of ammunition seized on Homestead Road in Rollington Town, Kingston 2.
Reports from the Elletson Road Police are that about midday, a team of officers searched premises in the area when the firearm and ammunition were seized and one of Kingston Eastern’s most wanted men.
He is Paul Cassanova otherwise called ‘Pablo’, 30-year-old of Bayshore Park, Harbour View, Kingston 17.
In August Town, Kingston 7, police were busy conducting operations in the Jungle 12 area when the search of a premises revealed one Glock 19 pistol. No one was arrested in connection with this seizure.
Then, 21-year-old Jarvis Ramsey was shot dead during a confrontation with the police and one Taurus 9mm pistol along with eight 9mm rounds of ammunition seized on Ramsey Road, Kingston 13 about 6:05 pm.
This incident has been reported to the Inspectorate of Constabulary (IOC) and the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM).
The momentum continued, leading to the seizure of one AK-47 rifle along with a magazine containing twelve 7.62 rounds of ammunition, one M‑16 rifle, eighteen 5.56 rounds of ammunition and a M16 magazine on Escarpment Road, August Town in Kingston 7. One man was taken into custody for questioning in relation to the seizure.
The police are renewing their appeal to members of the public to tell what they know in order to assist in the creation of safer communities. They can contact Crime stop at 311, police 119 emergency number, the nearest police station or via the stay alert app.
Read more here : http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/2‑wanted-men-arrested
Telling Murderers You Won’t Kill Them Is Exactly What They Want To Hear So They Continue Killing…
Problems do not fix themselves , if ever there are going to be solutions to our problems those solutions are going to have to come from within us . Not from divine intervention, luck, or any other cosmic force we conjure up in our minds.
It is important to say I do believe there is a powerful force which created the Universe the Galaxies and all that’s outside the scope and sphere of our understanding and knowledge.
Whatever that force , irrespective of the name one has for him/her/it , that force is it, that which we reverence as God. It is that force which created us, which also empowered us to do for ourselves that which we so wastefully spend so much of our time on our knees begging him to fix.
I always fancied myself a pragmatist . I believe every last word of the foregone.
Things others acquire and take for granted I have always had to work doubly hard for, even so, some of those most basic things were not guaranteed. It was never for want of prayer either, I came from a family of praying people. Church for us was mandatory no questions asked.
As I read the Bible myself I learned that whatever I wanted out of life I was going to have to go get on my own.
I looked at the Biblical stories of the miracles Jesus wrought, and I found a common thread .
That thread was that whatever miracle he wrought the recipient/s of said miracle/s had to be a part of the miracle. They had to participate in the miracle, they weren’t allowed to simply sit and be handed the reward.
From his very first miracle . John 2 vs 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
The rest is well known , healing a man of the dreaded leprosy he told him, “go show thyself to the Priest’. The priest was the certifying authority , only they could allow cured lepers back into society.
“Pick up thy bed and walk ” after healing a man lame from birth.
To the man born blind , John 9, Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes. 7 Then He told him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came back seeing.
Literally every single miraculous work was done through faith and obedience by the recipient/s . So I learned pretty early that yes I would pray , recognizing God as the source of my strength, but recognizing that ‑that strength was already in me .
I not sure whether not having a mother or father growing up was responsible for my hard nosed pragmatic approach to life, or it was simply a recognition that problems not fixed early only gets worse, they never fix themselves.
That tiny sapling , soft and pliant could easily be uprooted with a little tug or no effort at all. Left there long enough removing it requires an Axe and or much more.
I spoke about this approach which I brought to policing.
Remove a single guy selling weed and you don’t have to deal with fights for turf, communities ravaged by more serious drugs, thefts and robberies to support habits , murders from turf wars and communities decimated by drugs and violence.
Just move the first guy..
And oh… the ever constant “well it’s never that easy” .
Actually it is …
It gets hard because we convince ourselves that the things which needs doing are hard. What that does is make them harder, because not only does inaction emboldens those who are predisposed to doing wrong , it solidifies the problems they create.
As I said to a friend just today there is a reason that people surrender to bullies.
Fear !!!
Fear that the bully will hit harder if they fight back. Ironically fighting back may indeed get one beaten , but it actually discourages the bully from messing with you, ultimately the bully wants to control through fear not through having to fight.
Criminals who prey on the defenseless counts on their fear. That fear emboldens them to push the envelope further and further .
The fear withing the populace is an empowering component in the success of the criminal underworld.
The refusal and hand-wringing which characterizes Jamaica’s crime problem is exactly what the criminals want.
Bloody the bully’s nose and watch the difference. Yes brute force is an answer to crime , it is the only language these murderers understand.
It is folly to believe they fear getting arrested and brought before a court of law . It is even more laughable that anyone would believe the viscous murderers in Jamaica worry about being held accountable by the criminal enhancement system which exist in our country.
The Judges , prosecuting attorneys , defense attorneys and police all have vested interest in crime or are themselves actively involved in criminal conduct. It is a simple inconvenient truth that not many want to hear unfortunately.
How many times have you heard the saying that “killing criminals is not a deterrent” .
Have you ever seen a dead criminal return to kill anyone else?
Well I guess killing is a deterrent then , isn’t it ?
Of course it is to that one.
Oh one more thing, Peter did pull out his word and cut the ear off the guard who came to take Jesus Christ away from the garden of Gethsemane.
Please don’t preach to me that Jesus replaced the ear. I know that. The fact that Peter carried a sword even in the company of the pious Savior is far more significant to me than that Jesus replaced a severed ear.
South Carolina Judge Declares Mistrial In Murder Case Against White Cop Michael Slager Who Fatally Shot Walter Scott
A South Carolina judge Monday declared a mistrial in the racially-charged murder case against a white police officer accused in last year’s controversial shooting death of an unarmed black motorist. Days after jurors told the judge they were deadlocked because a holdout juror was unwilling to convict Michael Slager, the former North Charleston officer, accused of fatally shooting Walter Scott as he sprinted away, the judge reached the conclusion that no verdict could be reached. Weary jurors on their fourth day of deliberations, had sent a note to Judge Clifton Newman saying “the majority” were still undecided on a verdict.
The panel of one black and 11 white jurors then asked Newman several questions, including Slager was charged with voluntary manslaughter in addition to murder.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/judge-declares-mistrial-case-ex-cop-killed-walter-scott-article‑1.2899461
A Bad Law And Power In The Hands Of A Narcissist Driving Astronomical Murder Statistics In Jamaica.…
In recent testimony before the Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) DCP Novelette Grant testified that “Whenever a police officer is called upon to account in a court of law, that police officer has to find the legal fees up front and then ask for reimbursement at the end of the process.”
However, when police personnel appear before INDECOM for a hearing and take an attorney, there is no mechanism in place for reimbursement at the preliminary stage. “This is what the police are saying, that this cost is so high on them that if they were to be cited to go before a court, they would have already been broke before they actually have anything to answer in a court of law”.
The (indecom) Act A Reckless Law Which Kills Citizens And Police Officers Alike…
DCP Hinds. who previously testified before the committee argued then that the major issue the (JCF has is with the commissioner of INDECOM. They can’t come to any agreement that is going to bind INDECOM unless he (Williams) agrees to it, Hinds told the committee.
The commissioner of INDECOM Terrence Williams , in his usual arrogant above being questioned stance brushed off DCP Hind’s comments claiming “DCP Hinds did not play any significant part in the protocol arrangements, so he found it surprising that he could make adverse remarks… DCP Hinds’ claim is unfounded Williams asserted.
In brushing aside the concerns of Novelette Grant ‚Williams blames the Police high command , the Parliament and everyone else for not setting aside monies as remuneration when these incidents occurred.
There is a perception that members of the constabulary are unwilling to account; that’s far from the truth. If you make the process onerous, then people start to weigh whether or not they can afford that process,” argued DCP Grant.
DCP Hinds had accused Williams of holding up the signing off of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on agreed protocols between the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and INDECOM.
Williams ridiculed the need for a mediator between INDECOM and the JCF in the signing of a MOU which would supposedly smooth out a working relationship.
In heaping scorn on the suggestion that he was a problem Terrence Williams argued that there was amicable communication between himself and Carl Williams the Police Commissioner , but it was the police Commissioner who had not signed off on the MOU.
“I don’t think there is a need for any mediator between ourselves and the JCF… we are already discussing these things (protocols); these things are being implemented .”
Williams in playing the role of judge , jury, and executioner. Not only has he stepped outside his bounds as the commissioner of an oversight body in the way he handles those functions he is given , he tells the Parliamentary committee what it should and shouldn’t do.
https://mikebeckles.com/revampre-do-re-authorize-indecom/
Williams however was just getting started, he told the committee it should not pay any attention to any anecdotal claims that the police are not reporting to crime scenes out of fear of the wrath of INDECOM.
He argued if police officers are shirking their duties, then this is a serious matter that should be reported to INDECOM for action.
He said the police commissioner has been asked to submit reports of these occurrences to INDECOM by November 2.
I have to laugh really,this is a very serious matter which is causing lives , what will it take for them to fire this narcissist.
When was this within the remit of INDECOM ?
Being a former cop I am partial to police officers , I am also conversant of and deferential to the challenges they face , as such I am chagrined by the illogical uninformed notion that good cops need not fear prosecution if they are doing their jobs in accordance with the laws.
Policing is a challenging endeavor , in Jamaica it is almost a suicidal undertaking.
It is easy to make such claims ignorant of the trap that the INDECOM Act is to policing period. This without an officer stepping outside of the laws in the execution of his duties.
As such the testimony of former chief of Defense staff of the Jamaica Defense Force Major General Antony Anderson was particularly critical. Anderson, as this writer has done since the inception of the Act, said that legislation from other jurisdictions, which Jamaica referred to in the crafting of the INDECOM Act, includes provisions for oversight bodies to gain the trust and confidence of the public and the agencies which they are overseeing.
Anderson stated that this wasn’t even part of the discussion when the law was being crafted.
“That is what has been missing from the way we have been doing this here. When that philosophical position is not there, then there is no need to take any action to make the police confident that they are going to be dealt with fairly, or anyone else. As long as it matches the letter of the law, that’s good enough. Unfortunately, it is people we are dealing with and the people who are being overseen are people who go out every day and risk their lives to protect other people.”
So why was that component missing when the law was being crafted? Why are they just now speaking out about this? I have written dozens of articles on this very subject detailing that very point.
Was it that the law-makers are inept, poorly equipped to craft good legislation , incompetent ?
Or is it that they did not care about the concerns of the police and to a lesser extent the Military and correctional services ?
No one in their right mind could want police to have crate blanche to do as they please. In fact INDECOM was created because of abuse and misconduct of the police and military.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Novelette Grant alluded to the fact that officers have no problem with oversight. Good cops understand that oversight absolves them of smear and wrongful and concocted allegations of impropriety.
Literally every young officer I have personally spoken to who have left the department or are still serving has said exactly that.
This makes Terrence Williams’ arguments more scurrilous, disingenuous and self-serving.
The fact is that more and more Jamaicans are recognizing that this law is indeed extremely bad for police officers, bad for the Jamaican citizenry and bad for crime reduction on the Island.
Many including former MP Damion Crawford and other notables have spoken out as I have about it.
To date this has basically fallen on deaf ears, despite members of the PAAC itself being forced to confront this atrocious piece of legislation and its failings.
https://mikebeckles.com/jamaicas-security-forces-stick-necks/
Crime in Jamaica has been on an upward trajectory for decades. This is due to socio-economic conditions among other things, however no single factor has nurtured and fertilized crime as the criminal complicity of the Jamaican political class.
They can commission all the studies they can pay for out of the communist leaning University of the West Indies and the far left leaning academics there, crime will continue to climb and the bodies will continue to pile up until police officers are allowed to go after criminals with the full authority of the state and its full citizenry.
In 2015 crime increased 20% over the preceding year . 2015 saw 1192 homicides reported to authorities as against 1005 in 2014.
Think for a minute about 1192 dead bodies laid out side by side, then take a second to assimilate the fact these were living breathing friends , neighbors and family members .
Then understand that at the very minimum some of those murdered victims could have been alive , but for the narcissism of a single ego-maniacal little man who was given too much power he was not equipped to handle and should never have had in the first place.
How dumb are these PAAC members ?
Or are they?There are many ways police officers can make a statement without endangering themselves their livelihood , their solvency and their freedoms.
DCP grant spoke to the fact that criminals taunt police officers on patrol , telling them INDECOM has their backs.
That is true the INDECOM act does support and enable crime .
The little man who heads it is an all facilitator of criminality on the Island.
In the meantime I will continue to support officers who turn on their sirens and drive real slow when there are calls of shots fired.
Officers should make sure that by the time they get there whomever was shooting are long gone.
Do the paper work and file them.
This is not a fight the police should be waging. Law enforcement is simply enforcing laws. If enforcing the laws become onerous or places the interest of officers at risks then they must exercise common sense and look out for their own self-interest.
This is a fight for law abiding Jamaicans to wage against the brain-dead moronic legislators. Police officers simply need to use their heads and stay out of the fray ,
Do not pursue anyone with a gun do not do anything which could result in the need for lethal force.
In time something will give , it’s their call not that of the police .
This country is a criminal paradise and it is sliding precipitously close to becoming a failed state.
In the meantime those in charge are prancing around like the emperor in his none existent new clothes.