One of the most critical components in the violent crime-fight Jamaica faces is arrogance and stupidity on the part of Jamaica’s leaders. But most important is the inherent disrespect for the discipline of law enforcement.
Contrary to what they say in public, the country’s leadership has all been schooled in the same dirty pool of ignorance and a belief that cops are high school dropouts who could find no other job, so they chose law enforcement.
There was some truth to that theory, as it is true that in all other professions, there are total idiots, whether they managed to earn a degree or two degrees.
The Police department of today is vastly more formally educated than the force that existed three or four decades ago. Nevertheless, the stigma of disrespect seems to linger, with law enforcement dealt with only as an afterthought.
Another dynamic at play is the belief in the country that a degree in a single subject qualifies the holder to be an authority on every subject. This insanity has hobbled progress in the country with grave consequences for the people.
https://mikebeckles.com/jamaica-worse-off-with-crime-and-violence-than-it-was-three-decades-ago/
No one understands medicine more than a scientist or doctor, and the same is true of nursing- questions on nursing are best directed at nurses. And you certainly want to speak to teachers if you want to learn about the little thing we call education because everyone got their education from teachers.
However, when it comes to solving the nation’s crime problem, the country’s leadership turns to pediatricians, talking heads, and everyone but the people with the expertise. This is disrespect of the highest order that must be called out once and for all.
The nation’s last three national security ministers have all been people thrust into the role with zero experience in national security. Let me hasten to preempt those who continue to be apologists by arguing that the security minister is a policy position. The best policy decisions will come from people with intimate knowledge of the discipline. There, I fixed that for you!!!!
Peter Bunting of the PNP was a businessman. The JLP’s Robert Montague is a Botanist, and Horace Chang is a medical doctor.
By that metric, we should have Andrew Holness a teacher, doing surgeries in the hospitals. The sad reality is that both political parties’ leadership lack common sense and certainly situational awareness of the critical importance of security in a nation.
But the disrespect, arrogance, and stupidity do not stop there; in recent times, three former heads of the Island’s military have been appointed head of the constabulary with devastating consequences to the morale and effectiveness of the force.
The present commissioner of police is one of those transplants. The results are clear.
Operating a little defense force whose main function is to back up the constabulary in no way, shape, or form prepared either of those three men to lead a police department of twelve thousand men and women on a mission as crucial as enforcing the nation’s laws.
With all respect to their credentials, we may never get to learn whether heads of the Jamaica Defense Force were or are remotely qualified, regardless of the rank they attained. The acid test of a true military leader is performance as a commander. Jamaica has not and is not engaged in any wars so our military leaders have zero leadership as commanders under fire.
Need I say more?
https://mikebeckles.com/jcf-gave-up-the-streets-to-hooligans/
The Prime Minister loves using the State Of Emergency Powers as a crime suppressant tool. It is important to remember that mister Holness was not always enamored with that power while he was in opposition.
In fact, he berated and castigated the fact that police could, under those same powers, barge into someone’s home without a warrant.
Whenever you place power into the hands of humans, they will abuse it. Place extreme powers into the hands of humans, and they will abuse those powers exponentially.
My entire service from 1982 to 1991 as a police officer was under the so-called suppression of crime Act, which allowed us additional powers to go after criminals.
Both political parties failed during that period of protracted use to write, debate, and pass legislation into law that had the necessary teeth to protect the country.
Consequently, the country has floundered like a ship without a rudder bouncing off rock after rock with no clear anti-crime policy from either party while in government.
https://mikebeckles.com/a‑clean-unbiased-and-honest-judiciary-central-to-the-rule-of-law-in-a-democratic-society/
Year after year, the Island’s crime situation worsens while the political leaders either play politics or pontificate about band-aid approaches they have imposed. It becomes more difficult to uproot the ‘dons’ who are importing guns into the country and wreaking havoc on the young people they bring into their gangs.
“No gang is gonna get fame by us for calling up their names. They are nobodies and we must treat them like that, because the reason why they have power is because we big them up in the society.”(Andrew Holness PM)
The audio hasn’t always matched the video so we will keep a keen eye from now on.
Are the nation’s leaders dumb, or are they intentionally allowing crime, violence, and mayhem to continue because there is money to be made from crime?
We will explore that in another article.
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Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.