Monique

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement entails the individuals and agencies in charge of the enforcing of laws and maintenance of public order, and the safety of the citizens in their state/country. It is inclusive of the prevention, detection, and investigation of crimes, as well as the apprehension and detention of those who are suspected of law violation. 

Being in existence for 152 years, and having over 11,000 members, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, a department under the Ministry of National Security has been the premier law enforcement arm of the Government of Jamaica. Law Enforcement in Jamaica was established in 1716 when there were appointments of night watchmen in the cities of Port Royal and Kingston, and the parishes of St. Catherine and St. Andrew. Long after this, in 1832, there was the first attempt to establish a permanent police force whereas William Ramsay was the first ever Inspector General appointed in 1835. In 1865, the year of the Morant Bay Rebellion, the disturbance caused a shift in the peace thus causing the establishment of an improved police force. This force accounted for 984 members, under the leadership of an Inspector General appointed by the British Governor. With the constant development of the force, in 1917-1922, the Police Central Training Depot was moved to Lower Elletson Road in Kingston after being situated at the corner of Young Street and Nugent Street in Spanish Town, St. Catherine for almost a century. In 1944, the Police Federation was formed by the provision of Section 67 (1) of the Constabulary Force Act. Shortly after this, in 1949, the first three women, Iris Tulloch, Sylvia Myers, and Florence Nelson were enlisted in the force. Tulloch stayed on board the longest and attained the rank of Superintendent in 1976. A year after this, in 1950, an act establishing the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) as a permanent body was constituted and passed. Its mandate was inclusive of maintaining order of public spaces, managing traffic, enforcing environmental laws, and others. In 1954, the first Police Youth Club was launched by Mr. Basil Ferguson and Corporal Everald Matthews, and also the Canine Division which was established when three policemen left the island to be trained as dog handlers and came back as experts with three German Sheperds. In the year 1958, the Bands Division was established where the first band master was Superintendent C.T. Beare, and in 1962 the Strike Force was established, and later become the Mobile Reserve Unit in 1970. The first Jamaican Commissioner of Police, Basil Johnson, was appointed in the year 1973, and in 1974, the Marine Police was established as a division. As time progressed, there was continuous development within the force, and in 1987, the Neighbourhood Watch was established. the programme united citizens in various communities to protect themselves and their property by reducing the risk of crime. In the year 2000, the Modernization and Reformation of the JCF began. Another milestone was reached in 2014 with the merger of the ISCF and the JCF after two failed attempts. The latest improvement within the JCF occurred in August 2018 with the launch of the Public Safety and Traffic Branch. The branch’s mandate is to restore order and the rule of law in public spaces whilst promoting safety of those traversing the streets of the nation. 

GENESIS 34 recounts the rape of Dinah by Shechem.

Dinah, being a young Israelite girl, would often associated with the Ca’naanite women, which was against her father, Jacob’s, wishes. One day, the leader of the land’s son, Shechem, saw Dinah and took and forced her to lie down with him. He later asked for her hand in marriage, but her brothers and father took offence to what had happened. While Jacob was willing to allow them to become Israelites through circumcision, the brothers took advantage of this law and killed all the men while they were still weak and healing. Not only did they kill all the men in the city, but took their wives and children and all their possessions. 

The problems which arise from this are: Rape, Murder, and Plunder.

 There was no written law at the time to defend the victim, as such, noting came out of it. In the instance of rape, Jacob chose a more peaceful route, however her brothers decided to take matters into their own hands and murder, not only the wrongdoer, but everyone else in the village and steal their belongings.

If I were a police facing a case as such, I would investigate the matter, and gather substantive evidence and reports from eyewitnesses which would lead to the arrest of those in the wrong. 

Criminologist Scott Wortley states, “To argue that racial profiling is harmless, that it only hurts those who break the law, is to totally ignore the psychological and social damage that can result from always being considered one of the “usual suspects.”

Racial Profiling occurs when a police officer stops, questions, arrests, and/or searches someone solely on the basis of the person’s race or ethnicity. The problem we face in Jamaica, however, is not one of race, but instead one of class. Classism allows for those residing in the uptown area, and are seemingly wealthy, to be treated better than that of the citizens residing in the garrison. This is exemplified in the interactions between the police and the poor, and the police and the reach, whereas the latter does not face brutality, or maltreatment as the first set do.  In the United States, the issue of racial profiling comes about. The case of George Floyd, as stated in previous posts, is one in which the race to which he belong led to his demise. Another case dates back to April 7th, 2001, where, in the early morning hours, Timothy Thomas, a 19 year-old African-American, was shot to death by police officer John Roach. Thomas had 14 outstanding misdemeanor warrants, mostly traffic violations, inclusive of failure to wear a seat belt. According to a city councilman, he was running away, holding up his baggy pants, and scaled a fence, landing in a driveway where Roach was approaching and shot Thomas. He became the fifth black male in the city to die at the hands of police in a five-month period and the fifteenth since 1995.

This has been an ongoing issue that seemingly will never end. 

https://www.aclu.org/other/racial-profiling-definition

Linkage Blindness, though not a popular issue, is very much an issue within law enforcement. It is the defined as the inability to analyze and link crucial information between agencies. It is often attributed to failure to cooperate with decentralized police departments or the lack of technological advances needed to share information. The term linkage blindness was brought about in 1984 to speak to an underlying problem with law enforcement serial murder investigations and some other crimes as well.

The consequences of linkage blindness are plenty in number. Aside from hindering arrest, it may also cause for a delay in the mobilization of police resources to investigate serious crimes because patterns generally go unidentified. As Jim Fisher stated in his blog, “Linkage blindness is the nearly total lack of sharing or coordinating of investigative information and the lack of adequate networking by law enforcement agencies. This lack of sharing or networking is prevalent today with law enforcement officers and their agencies. Thus linkages are rarely established among geographic area of the country between similar crime patterns or modus operandi.”  The main reason for linkage blindness has been credited to others not recognizing the characteristics of a serial victim, and, not having the ability to track murders in a central repository of information.

http://jimfishertruecrime.blogspot.com/2013/12/criminal-justice-quote-linkage.html

Police officers are of immense value to our society. The police are responsible for maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law, and preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activities. As such, the recruitment process should be one that is thorough in order to prepare one for the challenges to come, and also to better understand the persons they are entrusting the nation’s citizens with. 

The problem with the recruitment process in Jamaica is as a result of the process the police undergo. Often times, many start the training to become a police officer, however, most do not complete it. The issue with this is that they are equipped with knowledge of the tactics employed by the JCF, and as such, are able to use it for their own evil doing when they leave. 

Another problem is the selection and evaluation of the officers. In an article published on June 26, 2020 entitled, “No Criminals In Uniforms - Former Cops Want Harsher Punishment For Rogue Officers, Stricter Recruitment Process”, former policemen are now calling into question the recruitment of officers. They state that the recruitment process has dwindled and they are now accepting anyone without much of a struggle. He states that, “In my time, they (the JCF) would send people into your district to speak to pastors, teachers, and other reputable persons about your background. If your background was not spotless, you couldn’t go to training school,” said the former policeman. “I don’t know how the background checks are done these days, but some of the people I am seeing in uniform today couldn’t even walk near our barracks in my time.” Since it became easier to join the police force, many have opt to become a part of it just to be able to create havoc in the nation. There should be stricter measures set in place as it relates to the selection of the officers.

What constitutes Police Brutality is “the unwarranted or excessive of often illegal use of force against civilians by police officers.” This incorporates harassment, inclusive of false arrest, intimidation, verbal abuse, and other forms of maltreatment. 

The issue with Police Brutality is that there is no establishment between behavior that is acceptable and that which is too aggressive. Therefore, it is solely left up to the discretion of the police as to whether or not to use force in situations presented to them. Another issue with brutality is that it may be mistaken for “excessive use of force” though they are different in nature. Excessive Use of Force is mainly pushing or grabbing by an officer, as recorded in the Bureau of Statistics, 200, while Brutality is defined as the intention of the officer to cause physical harm. 

In the video attached, clear evidence of police brutality has been shown. Police in Jamaica almost always approach citizens of the garrison in this manner. More often that not, the outcome of police brutality in the island has been death. In defense of this claim, data from INDECOM shows that in 2017, 31 people were killed by the police in just January and February, with injury caused to another 11 people. This spike in killings by the police took a 55% increase than that of the same period in the previous year. Additionally, 15 of the people that were killed by the JCF was unarmed, and possibly innocent. 

What are your thoughts on the video attached?

https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/increased-killings-jamaica-police-raises-questions/

The term “abuse of power” speaks directly to all the ways in which police officers abuse their positions, by taking advantage of the citizens they should serve and protect, for their own personal desires. Abuse of power by the police takes the form of: using excessive force, making false arrests, searching or arresting without a warrant, assaulting citizens, unlawful murders, and use of government property at their leisure. 

In Jamaica, this is a pressing issue as it relates to unlawful killings. Amnesty International, a global movement campaigning to end the abuse of human rights, gathered evidence to prove that police officers in Jamaica carry out “hundreds of unlawful killings yearly” in an article written by them entitled “Jamaica police commit 'hundreds of unlawful killings' yearly.” The rationale for these killings, as stated by them, is as a result of the culture of fear and violence that is prevalent in the country. The director at Amnesty recounts that, “unlawful killings of young men and terrorizing their relatives into silence seems to be the alternative to proper investigations into crimes”. This simple statement single-handedly proved that abuse of power is a dire issue in our nation as, not only are they committing unlawful killings, but they are getting away with it and also coercing the families of the slain into silence. Statistics from Amnesty and INDECOM have shown that since 2000, members of the JCF have allegedly killed 3000 people. However, since the introduction of INDECOM in 2010, police killings have been decreasing as in 2015, 101 people were killed by the police, in relation to 210 and 258 in 2011 and 2013 respectively. Though there was a decrease, the report stated that the old practices of tampering with evidence, leaving victims to bleed to death and the use of unlawful killings as an alternative to arrest and lengthy criminal proceedings continued. In addition to unlawful killings, witnesses state that the police “kick off doors without a warrant” and “if you try and answer them back they try and brutalize you and accuse you of attacking the police” These lead back to the issue of abuse of power as the police are using the authority they have to do wrong.

In the most recent case of George Floyd, which occurred in the United States, evidence of abuse of power was shown. Policemen attached to the Minneapolis Police Department were called to the scene after a report that Mr. Floyd allegedly gave a store clerk a counterfeit bill. While on the scene, a policeman restrained him, and in turn, placed him on the ground where he put his foot on the neck of Mr. Floyd for a lengthy period of time. Despite Mr. Floyd’s cries for his life, the policeman kept his foot on his neck until his body become limp and he was unconscious. It was at that point the policeman decided to get up. This case is one of many which grieved the hearts of the majority. It also highlights how unlawful killings by the police are not limited to only Jamaica but is a widespread issue that all countries face. 

One of the biggest issues facing the Criminal Justice System is that of corruption. Corruption in Law Enforcement can be defined as the misuse of the authority given to officers for their own personal gain or pleasure. Corrupt activities normally take the form of bribery, extortion, selling drugs, or receiving stolen goods. Citizens are dependent on the police to uphold the law, and preserve the peace by protecting the community. However, with the continuous cases of corruption, there is an air of doubt and distrust amongst citizens for the police. 

Corruption has been an ongoing plague within the Jamaica Constabulary Force from the very beginning. In a survey conducted by a veteran pollster, Bill Johnson, in early 2019, it was highlighted that it is the belief of the Jamaican citizens that more than half (55%) of the members of the police force are corrupt. Many cases of corruption in the force has been brought forward, however, the most recent case that took the media by storm was that of the senior policeman, amongst other policemen, who was arrested on charges of breaching the Corruption Prevention Act. The first incident was that of the two constables assigned to the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch who were arrested after allegedly soliciting $6,000 from a motorist who committed a road traffic violation. In the second incident, a report was made against an inspector of police who allegedly disseminated private information concerning the complainant. The inspector then solicited $300,000 from the complainant to have the situation rectified. A report was made, and a sting operation was set up during which $60,000 was allegedly handed over to the policeman, who was subsequently arrested. 

These cases are few of many that highlights how corrupt and unjust many of the people who pledge to serve and protect us really are. Hubert Williams, in his research paper entitled “Core Factors of Police Corruption Across the World”, stated that police corruption is as a result of deficiencies in four major areas, namely, “recruitment, training and promotion; resources, such as salary and equipment; systems of accountability within departments, courts and the law; and cultural traditions that inhibit the development of professional police standards.” 

https://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/publications/core_factors.pdf

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/corruption-haunts-police-force-jamaicans-believe-more-than-half-of-jcf-tainted_157127?profile=1606