No murder is more important than the other; in the same way, no life is more important than another. We should all remember this when we view the countless murders that occur in our tiny Jamaica that go un-investigated, un-prosecuted, and therefore un-avenged.
As a young constable attending the first weeks of detective training in 91, I recalled something said to us that will live with me until they lay me to rest. It was this quote; There can be no greater responsibility given any human being than to bring to justice the killer of the innocent”. I question whether this principle still guide our young officers today?
Those who knew me during my abbreviated stay in the JCF will truthfully attest to the vigor, enthusiasm, and dedication I brought to the job.
That dedication was driven by my distaste for criminality and a desire to see all people live in peace and later fueled by that quote embedded in me in 91.
https://mikebeckles.com/commissioner-anderson-speaks-out-against-judges-late-and-half-hearted-well-kinda/
As a cop, I was unrelenting against criminals; now years later, as a freelance writer, I try to use whatever talents God gave me to bring to light topical issues that need attention.
I agree that I sometimes write angry. Angry that issues with clear and easy fixes are allowed to develop into major disasters because a few people benefit from the status quo. Some may be offended by the way I speak to issues.….
A casual acquaintance, a Ph.D. candidate at the UWI, once told me,” you could be a phenomenal writer, but you are your own worse enemy; you curse too much.”
I calmly told her that I do not write to be recognized; writing for me is a vehicle, a means to say what I want to say. In essence, it is not the destination, merely the vehicle.
In the opening paragraph, I spoke to the importance of treating every life with equal respect because it has become the new way of living to brush past the killing of regular people. We are now incensed only when the rich and famous die at the hands of criminals.
https://mikebeckles.com/as-klansman-trial-progresses-look-for-judges-to-showcase-their-disdain-for-consequence-for-actions/
Years ago, a jury absolved Andre “Blackman” Bryan of the gruesome murder of Jamaican Urban Transit Company head Douglas Chambers. A jury set the murdering scum free. Now his former associates are testifying to other homicides allegedly committed by the very same useless sociopath.
According to one witness, Blackman showed him the gun used to kill the former chairman of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company Douglas Chambers, and said he put two big holes in his head.
The police sometimes do good work in bringing these demons to justice; however, unlearned, criminal-loving people and a judiciary that is both criminally supportive and arguably corrupt continue to turn them loose to kill over and over again.
This time will turn out to be no different; the crisis within the justice system of unelected and corrupt judges will ultimately be the undoing of the once beautiful country.
https://mikebeckles.com/judges-in-western-jamaica-clearly-on-the-take/
In a 2017 piece for the Gleaner, Dr. Omar E. Hawthorne a lecturer in international relations at the University of the West Indies, Mona, and author of ‘Do International Corruption Metrics Matter? Wrote the following.
Often, when we talk about judicial corruption, the image is that of judges taking bribes. However, judicial corruption is a lot more. It includes all forms of inappropriate influence that may damage the independence of justice and may involve any player within the justice system, including lawyers and administrative support staff. The question of corruption is not only a matter of relations between judicial personnel and court users; it is also about internal relations in the judiciary.
The perception of petty corruption in the judiciary is systemic and an issue that many in developing and developed countries have to deal with. In a Global Corruption Report, one in 10 of the respondents who had been in contact with the judiciary over the past year answered yes when asked whether they had paid a bribe.
https://mikebeckles.com/as-nations-move-to-stiffen-gun-laws-jamaicas-self-righteous-judges-release-gangsters-on-probation/
See a testimonial from one such Jamaican.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/highly-corrupt-state-affairs-jamaicas-office-attorney-silvera-adjudah
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/more-corruption-jamaicas-court-appeal-president-justice-adjudah
Over the years, I have heard from several Jamaicans who have vehemently argued that they have paid judges for cases to go away.
Unfortunately, there is still a large segment of the population that steadfastly believe in the wholesomeness of Jamaican judges. As the report said, corruption is not just confined to judges taking bribes but consists of inappropriate influence that damages the independence of justice.
I have written consistently about this.
The witness testifying against Andre Blackman Bryan revealed to the court something that most of the fakers and fraudsters in the Jamaican society who support criminal coddling cannot understand.
The witness said Bryan gave him the duty of scouring the internet to find crime statistics on the island. He said Bryan was angry when he learned that Montego Bay and Clarendon were recording more murders and shootings than Spanish Town, where the Klansman is based. Bryan said the gang needed to up its game in this respect as those areas should not be beating Klansman turf. He further said the Andre Bryan assigned an individual to develop a strategy to drive the numbers of killings for their home base.
These are the types of strategies being developed, while the justice Minister Delroy Chuck and a host of others try to find ways to get violent criminals out of prison. Violent criminals who have the means to deliver death and destruction strategically plot how to kill more Jamaicans to satisfy their own egos, their own blood-lust, the desire to be seen as the Don…
Corrupt judges look the other way and hand out suspended sentences to gangsters who are caught red-handed with guns. The court of appeals finds ways to let murderers out on minor technicalities while fooling the lumpen that they are protectors of our democracy.
https://mikebeckles.com/the-world-is-watching-how-the-jamaican-court-handle-this-klansman-trial/
If left unattended, tumors like these become cancerous, jeopardizing the entire body. Criminals like these left to operate freely threatens national security.
Criminals have a way of upping their game to a different level, where the killings become the point. If a sociopathic killer believes there is no consequence when he kills, he kills more.
Andre Blackman Bryan and his cronies in the Klansman gang are sociopathic killers aided by a corrupt and acquiescent justice system. Cancers in our society.
It is no longer good to take what is not theirs; they derive a sick thrill from killing their victims. When they are eventually brought before the courts, these low-level scums are able to hire the most expensive ‘criminal defense lawyers’, even though they never did a days work in their lives.
They are sick predators that have become cancer on the innocent citizens of Jamaica, made possible by a corrupt and complicity system that pretends to dispense justice but is equally as corrupt as the ones that shed the blood.
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Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.