Orville Taylor | Eyes on the police

Caught between a rock and a hard place, the Jamaican citizens are facing a small set of criminals, including unfortunately, family members, who are hell-bent on causing mayhem. These heartless scoundrels seem to have no limit to their savagery.

Force is absolutely needed to counter these criminal elements. Jamaica, a country where the speed gene might be correlated to the level of assertiveness, courage and regrettably, aggressiveness, we have honed the west African DNA into a tough set of descendants, who fought the British to a standstill in the 1730s, produced Chief Takye, and in fact, sent Dutty Boukman to start the Haitian Revolution.

Sixty per cent of our chromosomes comes from the Ashanti, making us hotwired for violence. Asante ( the correct spelling) means brought together by war.

Our history of warring, features the largest number of uprisings by enslaved African populations. Added to this bedrock of choleric behaviour, the strategy for plantation control was one of divide and rule. Captured Africans were deliberately placed in juxtaposition against each other, with a copious dose of hatred lubricating the seams between them.

Large social upheavals failed precisely because of this insidious divisiveness, seasoned with a strong sprig of self-hate. With a relatively smooth transition to self government, Jamaica emerged as the first true parliamentary democracy in the hemisphere, where 81 years ago we elected our local leaders based on universal adult suffrage.

Somewhere in the 1970s, A tribe of politicians put power and party above nationhood, and deliberately taught an entire generation that it was acceptable, indeed normative to take the life of someone , simply because he was believed to be a supporter of the other party. With collaboration from forces outside of the country arms flooded into the nation, and like alien species became invasive and ultimately a staple in our conflict management and interpersonal relations. These lessons taught were not forgotten by poster boys who are typified as having grown up without fathers. In fact, the opposite is true. These killers did not simply raise themselves today. Antecedents coming from the generation before, presented a pretty good template. After all, it is not unusual for the next generation to surpass its predecessors.

Since the turn of the 21st century a number of factors have fuelled a homicide rate of around 1,200 per year.

Although the numbers have decreased in recent years, among the persons killed have consistently been police officers.

There is no question that there is a high level of violence in Jamaica, although, if we are to be honest, the great majority of victims are young men, whom are known by other young men who killed them.

And let no duppy fool you! These new brand of killers only fear the security forces when they are in custody, or when staring down the muzzle or barrel of a firearm.

No regard for law and order and even less for human life, it would be foolish to think that they can be counteracted without matching force.

Police officers must be peace officers doubtless. They are not soldiers, who by their very definition are war officers. However, being peaceful has a clear implication. Weak people cannot be peaceful, because they do not have a choice. On the other hand, a peaceful individual or entity is one which always has a capacity to stage war and high levels of violence, but in the circumstances they choose the other path.

There is no question as to whether or not our Constabulary must be able to take on the violence producers, and where necessary eliminate threats.

In all of this, however, the means never are justified by the ends.

Across the three decades, since my first salvo into the workings of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), the point I have kept stressing, is that being a police officer has little to do with one’s ability to ‘buss a gun,’ investigate crime or any of the skill set.

Inasmuch as the Force has seen a linear increase in recruitment, qualifications, as well a major educational uplift among its members, none of this by itself makes for a better or even a good JCF.

As I had to remind a member some time ago, as he was having kittens because someone offended him, his position as a policeman is based on a commitment to live and work by an oath.

A less competent, knowledgeable or qualified cop, is infinitely a better policeman, if he does his duties, ‘without favour, affection, malice or ill will.’

And here enters the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM). Often typified as the nemesis of tie JCF, its mandate is to make certain that the Force obeys the law, maintain the proper standards of operation and respect human rights.

Policing provides multiple opportunities for officers to misconduct themselves and this includes, the misuse of deadly force.

As stated ad nauseam, if police officers are committed to doing their work according to their oath and the law; then whether ‘in deh come’ or ‘in deh go’, there is nothing to fear.

Still, like any well thinking Jamaica, including the large mass of serving officers, any increase in numbers or percentages of suspicious incidents, must raise red flags.

That INDECOM has found bases to charge a significant number of policemen indicates that the system works.

However evil the criminal suspect is, even if he has killed many times, police have to follow their protocol.

The perceived pussyfooting regarding the use of cameras must end. Cats and dogs do not have the same luck. Cats have tunnel vision but dogs see the whole picture.

Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com