Dear Editor,
A number of individuals and organisations have used the recent Court decision by Mr Justice Batts as a beating stick to hammer the police and by extension Commissioner Owen Ellington. We need to look at the issue more carefully.
Firstly, the judgment by Mr Justice Batts must be seen as addressing a specific case of an injustice to a Jamaican individual. The injustice that was punished was not the stop and search, but rather the behaviour of the police after the search, when their action was clearly a spiteful reaction to a legitimate question posed by the defendant in the case. In fact, the Commissioner needs to follow that up in terms of disciplining, and possibly dismissing those guilty policemen.The learned judge may well have reflected on the implications of the police stop and search procedures, but the case could not be used as a reason to stop the process. That specific issue now clarified, let us examine the various attacks on the force and by extension the Commissioner.
Retired Senior Superintendent of Police Mr Renato Adams got front page prominence in the Observer (June 30, 2013) in his call for the police force to be scrapped and a commissioner elected by the people.The idea is so ludicrous that Mr Adams must be going senile. Perhaps the recent Tivoli incursion has brought back memories to haunt him of the time when he led the team into an attack on Tivoli and left over twenty dead bodies on the streets. A memorial is dedicated by the Tivoli community to that occasion.
Not to be left behind, Jamaicans for Justice have joined in the attack and Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke with the praedial larceny crisis to farmers on a front burner, is blaming the police and the Jamaica School of Agriculture for not doing enough. There was even an irrelevant comment about people not trusting the police for searching.
Fortunately, Jamaica has an outstanding police commissioner who is prepared to take a stand on an issue which is fundamental to effective crime-fighting. The stop and search guideline empowers the police to, without cause, stop and search any vehicle and its occupants on reasonsable suspicion that firearms and/or ammunition is being unlawfully conveyed therein. This procedure led to the bus being held with guns and ammunition recovered and the commissioner has been at pains to remind his force members that courtesy must be a major consideration.
A W Sangster
Hope Pastures
sangsteralfred@yahoo.com
Police under attack
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A number of individuals and organisations have used the recent Court decision by Mr Justice Batts as a beating stick to hammer the police and by extension Commissioner Owen Ellington. We need to look at the issue more carefully.
Firstly, the judgment by Mr Justice Batts must be seen as addressing a specific case of an injustice to a Jamaican individual. The injustice that was punished was not the stop and search, but rather the behaviour of the police after the search, when their action was clearly a spiteful reaction to a legitimate question posed by the defendant in the case. In fact, the Commissioner needs to follow that up in terms of disciplining, and possibly dismissing those guilty policemen.The learned judge may well have reflected on the implications of the police stop and search procedures, but the case could not be used as a reason to stop the process. That specific issue now clarified, let us examine the various attacks on the force and by extension the Commissioner.
Retired Senior Superintendent of Police Mr Renato Adams got front page prominence in the Observer (June 30, 2013) in his call for the police force to be scrapped and a commissioner elected by the people.The idea is so ludicrous that Mr Adams must be going senile. Perhaps the recent Tivoli incursion has brought back memories to haunt him of the time when he led the team into an attack on Tivoli and left over twenty dead bodies on the streets. A memorial is dedicated by the Tivoli community to that occasion.
Not to be left behind, Jamaicans for Justice have joined in the attack and Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke with the praedial larceny crisis to farmers on a front burner, is blaming the police and the Jamaica School of Agriculture for not doing enough. There was even an irrelevant comment about people not trusting the police for searching.
Fortunately, Jamaica has an outstanding police commissioner who is prepared to take a stand on an issue which is fundamental to effective crime-fighting. The stop and search guideline empowers the police to, without cause, stop and search any vehicle and its occupants on reasonsable suspicion that firearms and/or ammunition is being unlawfully conveyed therein. This procedure led to the bus being held with guns and ammunition recovered and the commissioner has been at pains to remind his force members that courtesy must be a major consideration.
A W Sangster
Hope Pastures
sangsteralfred@yahoo.com
Police under attack
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