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The big test of government
published: Wednesday | October 3, 2007
When I was a high school teacher, I learnt that, every year, students test their new teachers to see how far they can go before being punished. It was almost an initiation ritual, where they tried to get into my head.
"Will he take away my cap or jewelry?" "How much talking in class or horseplay will he tolerate?" "What will be the consequences if I don't do my homework?"
I learnt the hard way that if I began badly by being too lenient, I would suffer discipline problems throughout the school year.
Jamaica's new Minister of National Security has barely been sworn in and he is already being tested by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
Within his first week in office there have been a number of questionable killings of Jamaicans by policemen, with the usual public outcry. Will the new Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government be changing course?
Jamaica's police force kills more citizens than any other police force in the world.
Although the JCF has been responsible for an average of 140 deaths per annum over the last ten years, there were 472 deaths as a result of police action during the period April 1, 1999 to March 31, 2000.
The last time police killings were nearly as high was during the JLP government of 1984 when the police killed 354 Jamaicans. Between 1983 and 2000, over 3,000 Jamaicans were killed by Jamaican police officers.
Identical accounts
The police account each time is almost identical:
The police observe men acting suspiciously.
They challenge the men.
The men draw guns and open fire.
The police return the fire.
A search of the area reveals men suffering from gunshot wounds.
The men are taken to hospital and are pronounced dead.
The result each time is almost identical: eyewitnesses claim that the man was harmless, and that the police killed him in cold blood. Citizens take to the streets in protest. The police claim that the citizens are protecting and sheltering criminals.
Both sides must be right some of the time. Despite the over 3,000 Jamaicans killed by Jamaican police officers over the last 25 years, not one policeman has been convicted for unlawful killing. Something is wrong here.
The justice system is unable to convict policemen, and the government has been unable to prevent the very high number of police killings. Will the new JLP government be able to change this course?
Fewer cops killed
If the number of gunmen shooting at officers is as high as the police claim (remember, they always have to claim that the gunmen fire first since their rules of engagement do not allow them to fire first), it follows that many officers would be killed or injured by gunfire.
The number of policemen killed by gunmen has never reached 15 in any one year, for a total of 108 between 1983-2000. Thirty to one!
Every policeman killed in the line of duty is a tragedy and an attack upon democracy; but every Jamaican citizen killed by the police is also a tragedy, and an even greater attack upon democracy.
When those who swear to uphold the law are the ones who break the law - and can be sure of getting away with it every time - the very foundations of democratic governance are shaken at the very roots!
Previous governments have been afraid to bring the police to book because they have wanted to curry favour with them. The ball is now in the court of the new Minister of National Security.
What, sir, are you going to do about our extraordinarily high rate of police killings? Are you going to fail the test like your predecessors did?
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development non-governmental organisation.
published: Wednesday | October 3, 2007
When I was a high school teacher, I learnt that, every year, students test their new teachers to see how far they can go before being punished. It was almost an initiation ritual, where they tried to get into my head.
"Will he take away my cap or jewelry?" "How much talking in class or horseplay will he tolerate?" "What will be the consequences if I don't do my homework?"
I learnt the hard way that if I began badly by being too lenient, I would suffer discipline problems throughout the school year.
Jamaica's new Minister of National Security has barely been sworn in and he is already being tested by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
Within his first week in office there have been a number of questionable killings of Jamaicans by policemen, with the usual public outcry. Will the new Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government be changing course?
Jamaica's police force kills more citizens than any other police force in the world.
Although the JCF has been responsible for an average of 140 deaths per annum over the last ten years, there were 472 deaths as a result of police action during the period April 1, 1999 to March 31, 2000.
The last time police killings were nearly as high was during the JLP government of 1984 when the police killed 354 Jamaicans. Between 1983 and 2000, over 3,000 Jamaicans were killed by Jamaican police officers.
Identical accounts
The police account each time is almost identical:
The police observe men acting suspiciously.
They challenge the men.
The men draw guns and open fire.
The police return the fire.
A search of the area reveals men suffering from gunshot wounds.
The men are taken to hospital and are pronounced dead.
The result each time is almost identical: eyewitnesses claim that the man was harmless, and that the police killed him in cold blood. Citizens take to the streets in protest. The police claim that the citizens are protecting and sheltering criminals.
Both sides must be right some of the time. Despite the over 3,000 Jamaicans killed by Jamaican police officers over the last 25 years, not one policeman has been convicted for unlawful killing. Something is wrong here.
The justice system is unable to convict policemen, and the government has been unable to prevent the very high number of police killings. Will the new JLP government be able to change this course?
Fewer cops killed
If the number of gunmen shooting at officers is as high as the police claim (remember, they always have to claim that the gunmen fire first since their rules of engagement do not allow them to fire first), it follows that many officers would be killed or injured by gunfire.
The number of policemen killed by gunmen has never reached 15 in any one year, for a total of 108 between 1983-2000. Thirty to one!
Every policeman killed in the line of duty is a tragedy and an attack upon democracy; but every Jamaican citizen killed by the police is also a tragedy, and an even greater attack upon democracy.
When those who swear to uphold the law are the ones who break the law - and can be sure of getting away with it every time - the very foundations of democratic governance are shaken at the very roots!
Previous governments have been afraid to bring the police to book because they have wanted to curry favour with them. The ball is now in the court of the new Minister of National Security.
What, sir, are you going to do about our extraordinarily high rate of police killings? Are you going to fail the test like your predecessors did?
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development non-governmental organisation.
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