
Delroy ChuckWE NEVER seem to learn. We do the same things over and over and wonder why we get the same results. Crime and violence are out of control, and will remain out of control, as long as we apply the same remedy of abusive brute force, inhumane practices and tyrannical measures. Will it ever occur to the political authorities and sections of the police force that the strategy to fight crime begins with sound intelligence gathering and ends with hard persuasive evidence to put away the criminals?
Success in crime-fighting will come by knowing the community, befriending the residents and ultimately identifying and apprehending the wrongdoers. Any other alternative is unlikely to succeed in a free and democratic society. The so-called war on crime has failed, and will continue to fail, if we see a whole community as the enemy to be brutalised and treated as if they were all criminals. That culture of police abuse and state tyranny is predicated on the misguided belief that creating and maintaining fear and coercing respect for superior state power can control crime. That is the method and measure of tyrannical regimes.
The Crime Management Unit, under the command of Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams, is an anathema to our mission of creating a kinder and gentler society. Its crime-fighting techniques are more likely to brutalise communities and increase criminality instead of calming our fears and reducing crime. The strategy being applied cannot work, has never worked and in the long-term can only frustrate the dedicated community police officers who police their communities with much success. The strategy, it is clear, is vested in the misguided notion that the inner-city communities must be put under manners, in fear, threatened and brutalised into submission, as the Crime Management Team parades, promotes and signals its superior force to the dons, the gangs and whoever dares.
But, is it really necessary? Can this hardcore and traditional policing be any more successful than community policing? What happened in Grants Pen on Friday, November 24, smacks of brutish stupidity, police misconduct and gross injustice. The report is that at around 7 a.m., the Crime Management Team swooped down on the community, detained a number of young men, asked for Andrew Pang and, when he failed to show, maliciously damaged his motorbike. The residents were abused, humiliated and threatened. Their homes invaded and searched. And, at the end of the day, nothing worthwhile was achieved! As I understand it, no murderer was caught, no crime was solved, no gun was recovered and the incident undermined the good police community relations being promoted and developed. The Constant Spring Police and the rest of the community had to undertake damage control.
It was not the first time the Crime Management Team entered the area and created havoc, as it seems to do in every community it enters. Some weeks ago, it came in two nights in a row, roughed-up the residents, abused the women, threatened the young men and promised to return. A professional researcher, a woman of high repute, happened to be on the scene on both occasions, as she conducted studies for the USAID Development Programme for Grants Pen and, she reports, was appalled at the abusive behaviour of supposedly professional policemen.
I cannot explain why the Crime Management Team should behave in this manner. Perhaps, it is difficult to teach old police officers cultured in the use of brute force any new tricks. Yet, somehow, we need to get across to SSP Adams and his team that they are going about it in the wrong way. If they suspect that Pang and others from Grants Pen are responsible for criminal activity around the Corporate Area, why not check with the Constant Spring Police to give assistance? I know the Constant Spring Police works closely with the Grants Pen community and the residents are well-known. If Pang and others are wanted then make sure the evidence is available, have warrants issued, apprehend them, and then get successful prosecution.
I do not know if and why Grants Pen is targeted, as it has become a fairly peaceful and quiet community over the past two years and more. The gang warfare, gun battles and community conflicts, between the young boys, have subsided immensely and even though there are occasional hiccups the community is at peace. The vast majority of residents are God-fearing, Christian loving, and peaceful law-abiding citizens.
Agents of
injustice
In fact, in spite of what many may believe, Grants Pen is not a political garrison and certainly doesn't behave as one.
The turnout in some of its polling divisions is under 40 per cent and, when one considers the failure to enumerate, the voter turnout in the Grants Pen and neighbouring inner-city areas in the 1997 General Election was under 40 per cent of potential voters, and the PNP and JLP shared the actual votes in almost equal proportion.
If SSP Adams and his Crime Management Team really want success then the communities must see them as crime-fighters and community friends and not, as they are now viewed, as agents of injustice and state terror to be feared and avoided. I have a great deal of respect for SSP Adams as a crime-fighter, fearsome police officer and tough hombre. He is someone we want to succeed and to control the escalating crime wave. I think however that he needs to understand that hardcore and traditional policing in which citizens', especially poor people's, rights and freedoms are disrespected and trampled on will fail and cannot control crime. In a free and democratic society, the softer, gentler, yet firm, approach to policing is more like to succeed, as citizens can and will work with the police, instead of against them.
In any event, if we are to have a society of justice then we cannot condone and shut our eyes to injustice. The injustice is even more reprehensible and intolerable when it comes from agents of the state.
The present police culture of abusing state power must cease. Indeed, if we truly want to create a kinder and gentler society, then there is no better place to start than with the police force.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by e-mail at delchuck@hotmail.com.