Media Response To Dog ‑Paw Amounts To Glorification Of Criminals…

I am all for redemp­tion; God has been gra­cious to me beyond anything that I deserve, so I am the last to want to deny anyone grace. So even though I believe that the Court of Appeals still functions as a defacto law firm for violent murderers, my belief in the truer ideals of the rule of law are stronger than my disgust for the courts actions.
I am opposed to the release of Christopher Dog Paw Linton from prison on the frivilous grounds on which he was released; and even though I believe the court operates from a utopian place, I believe in the sanctity of the rule of law; on that note, I will live with the decision.
I still believe that the Jamaican courts are essentially friends to criminals; that the judges who populate them hide behind the theory of " an independt judiciary" to subvert the course of justice and exact their brand of liberalism on the jamaican people. They function ouside of the control of the people as unelected technocrats and are therefore not asnwerable to the people for the consequences of their actions.
They disregard the much vaunted doctrine of (stare decisis), let the decision stand, as if they have no duty to respect and consider it.
I hope Christopher Linton will see this grave error on the part of the court as a second chance; a chance for redemption and redress and not an opportunity to be exploited by him, one that signals to him that he can do as he pleases. Only time will tell.
The media's fascination with Linton ought to be of grave concern to all Jamaicans who respect he rule of law.
There are many teachers, nurses, police officers, social workers, and others,who are vastly more deserving of recognition,yet the media is focused on a man everyone knows is a violent criminal, granting him interview after interview as if he is a celebrity to be admired..
This is a violent killer who have been a scourge on the society and but for the corruption and incompetence of the criminal justice system, would be doing life without parole behind bars..


I continue to sound the alarm at the glorification of criminals by what passes for media in our country. Imagine one interviewer constistently reffering to Linton as a role-model, over and over again in one interview.
The glorification of criminals and criminal conduct has been a staple in Jamaica since our independence and maybe even before that.
Music, art and even in the halls of academia, the glorification of murder and murderers continue to inspire younger generations of violent predators to chose crime over service and respect.
Unfortunately, as it pertains to murder-music, the reality remains that it is left up to those who create violent lyrics to determine whether it has a negative impact on our young people.
I can speak to the fact that my own upbringing and being taught Godly principles, love, respect for others, the laws, and memorizing Bible teachings played and continue to play an integral part in how I treat others and how I conduct myself in society.
The music that existed when I was growing up was all about love and caring...... those lyrics have been the soundtracks to my life.
The murder, misognist music now will be be the soundtrack to the lives of today's kids. I am deeply appreciative for the ledership our country had at the time I was growing up and for the values instilled in me by my parents. I honor their choices of not bowing to popular opinions, for not being swayed by the changing direcions of the blowing wind.

Today in the house of par­lia­ment idiots exists who con­tin­ue to make the case that vio­lent lyrics do not shape the opin­ions and world­view of our young­sters, even as mur­ders and vio­lent assaults con­tin­ue to increase each year.

VIOLENT CRIME

As the JCF under­goes its much-need­ed trans­for­ma­tion, I would like to give the gov­ern­ment cred­it for some of the improve­ments that have been made in the Constabulary.
On the ques­tion of uni­forms, it is past time for the police depart­ment to be trans­formed from the ridicu­lous red seams and shirt into func­tion­al blue den­im. I see some offi­cers wear­ing the den­im with the JCF insignia embla­zoned along with a match­ing cap; final­ly, it can’t be too dif­fi­cult to move our police offi­cers into this sim­ple attire.
On Monday in the Trafalgar road area, the police shootout is anoth­er exam­ple of the need for more and more train­ing and coör­di­na­tion of our offi­cers who are forced to deal with an ever more embold­ened crim­i­nal class.

Even as I applaud the out­come of this encounter, the event as it played out again brings into sharp focus the need for a more focused type of train­ing for our police officers.
The events that played out from at least two of the offi­cers are vast­ly infe­ri­or to how we were oper­at­ing in these same cir­cum­stances three decades ago; it was shame­ful, to say the least.
On the oth­er hand, I encour­age Prime Minister Andrew Holness to sit down and view this video. It ought to edu­cate him a lit­tle on what police offi­cers are forced to deal with dai­ly. It may also inform and alter his igno­rant utter­ances on police behav­ior as they do their sworn duties. The real police offi­cers of our coun­try do not go out seek­ing to harm or kill any­one; they are forced into sit­u­a­tions like the one in the video; when those occa­sions arise, every­one expects them to run toward the dan­ger and neu­tral­ize the threat.
The least our offi­cers deserve is your unmit­i­gat­ed sup­port and not some mealy-mouthed bullshit.

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Mike Beckles is a for­mer Police Detective, busi­ness­man, free­lance writer, black achiev­er hon­oree, and cre­ator of the blog mike​beck​les​.com.