Look For JLP To Retroactively Add More Power To INDECOM It Created

Look for JLP to retroac­tive­ly add more pow­er to INDECOM it created.

He will be suc­cess­ful, he has the back­ing of the polit­i­cal direc­torate. (Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin for­mer Commissioner of Police)
The polit­i­cal direc­torate is the group of indi­vid­u­als which makes deci­sions for a coun­try, in the case of Jamaica it includes mem­bers of both the JLP and the PNP.

I have been turn­ing over in my mind this state­ment from the for­mer Rear Admiral, turned Police Commissioner and a cou­ple of things came to mind.
(a)Lewin seems to be say­ing that his tenure at the helm of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF)was a fail­ure because he did not receive the req­ui­site lev­el of sup­port from his polit­i­cal superiors.
(b) Acknowledging that the very same peo­ple who he inferred did not pro­vide him the sup­port he need­ed has now decid­ed to pro­vide that mate­r­i­al sup­port and oth­er­wise to Anthony Anderson.

In post-Colonial Jamaica, there have been 16 Commissioners of police begin­ning with N A Crosswell, and cul­mi­nat­ing with George Quallo.
I would haz­ard that each of those gen­tle­men could make the very same claim, par­tic­u­lar­ly those who came much lat­er after 1962.
Nevertheless, it is rather telling to hear some­one who spent his life in the Army and rough­ly 2‑years at the helm of the Constabulary insin­u­ate that the polit­i­cal direc­torate does not sup­port the rule of law.

What is even more crit­i­cal and ger­mane to this con­ver­sa­tion is that with­in our fledg­ling, yet envi­able par­lia­men­tary demo­c­ra­t­ic sys­tem, there are politi­cians who have had their United States Visas yanked because of alleged crim­i­nal con­duct and or affiliations.

So what has changed which has brought about this sup­posed epiphany which would cause the same polit­i­cal direc­torate to now throw its sup­port behind this new­ly announced Commissioner of Police?
Surely, they are not hav­ing a come-to-Jesus moment because they see the writ­ing on the wall.
If that was the case they would have had that moment of [wokeness][sic] from as far back as 2010 when the thugs all but took over the country.

http://​www​.jamaical​abour​par​ty​.com/​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​s​/​t​i​m​e​-​p​a​r​l​i​a​m​e​n​t​-​c​r​e​a​t​e​-​w​o​r​k​i​n​g​-​f​r​a​m​e​w​o​r​k​-​d​p​p​-​a​n​d​-​o​t​h​e​r​-​a​g​e​n​t​s​-​j​u​s​t​i​c​e​-​w​i​l​l​i​ams

I don’t claim to have the answers to these ques­tions, yet we could argue that they see him as one of them. They may even want to deal a death knell to the JCF as we know it, in fact, there have been whis­per­ing to that effect in recent times.
On the oth­er hand, there have been a cou­ple of shoot­ings which has direct­ly impact­ed the polit­i­cal class in recent times, albeit that it has­n’t reached any of the real­ly big fish yet, unfortunately.

The new­ly elect­ed head of the Police depart­ment major gen­er­al Anthony Anderson takes office today, there are rum­blings that he may bring mem­bers of the JDF senior man­age­ment team to the Deputy Commissioner’s rank which would effec­tive­ly side­line the senior offi­cers at that lev­el and sti­fle career offi­cers of the department.
I am unable to ver­i­fy the verac­i­ty of these alle­ga­tions so I will refrain from spec­u­lat­ing fur­ther in the inter­est of hon­esty and integrity.

One thing is sure is that as was to be expect­ed the tra­di­tion­al ene­mies of the police are up in arms. The Nation’s anti-law enforce­ment Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has stepped for­ward to make it clear that Parliament did intend to give INDECOM the pow­er to arrest and pros­e­cute police officers.
On the face of it, we could shrug off the fact that Delroy Chuck should nev­er be in any gov­ern­ment posi­tion due to his sup­port of gun­men killed by the police. It speaks vol­umes about the abil­i­ties of the par­lia­men­tar­i­ans who draft­ed and debat­ed the INDECOM bill before it became law. It makes a strong case that they were intrin­si­cal­ly unable to com­mu­ni­cate their intent on paper in clear and unam­bigu­ous ways.

The Gleaner Editorial page could not wait to jump on the band­wag­on of sup­port for the froth­ing mouth deranged Terrence Williams, declar­ing, Give INDECOM The Powers in their Monday online publication.
The larg­er issue here it seems is that this JLP Administration is decid­ed­ly focused on the destruc­tion of the Constabulary force and are blind­ed by the taste of power.

The JLP sat in oppo­si­tion for an unprece­dent­ed 14 ¹⁄₂ years look­ing into Jamaica House like the rest of us. The JCF is a large orga­ni­za­tion and I hope for its sake that it also has an expan­sive mem­o­ry. In the mean­time, the Police should begin to exert its influ­ence in ways that hurt peo­ple who are against them in their pocketbooks.
That should begin at all lev­els includ­ing not spend­ing mon­ey pur­chas­ing goods and ser­vices of com­pa­nies which adver­tise on the Jamaica Gleaner.

The time will come soon enough when police offi­cers, their fam­i­lies, and their sup­port­ers once again get to chose a gov­ern­ment. It would be anoth­er decid­ed affront to the Police by this admin­is­tra­tion as it seeks to find new ways to demor­al­ize the police and fur­ther place the lives of law-abid­ing Jamaicans at risk.

If that pro­vi­sion is added to the INDECOM act retroac­tive­ly, at a time when the court just ruled that it was nev­er there, it will be a water­shed moment in our coun­try’s mod­ern history.
The Jamaican peo­ple have clear­ly had enough time to see the destruc­tive pow­er of INDECOM over the past 8‑years. Andrew Holness him­self has argued the law needs revis­it­ing, yet there are pow­er­ful forces in the coun­try mar­shaled in sup­port of this law because the sta­tus quo suits their fidu­cia­ry interest.
They have also had 8‑years to see the harm a polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed law and a polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed flunky at its head can do.