EDITORIAL - Probing the police

Owen Ellington's declared willingness to allow an investigation into allegations, reported by this newspaper, that death squad(s) operate within the police force is welcome.

Indeed, for the police chief to have done otherwise would have been to invite deeper distrust of the constabulary, thereby further weakening its effectiveness as a crime-prevention and crime-fighting organisation.

But even at that, it is important that whoever does the job - we would suggest INDECOM invites outside assistance - appreciates the texture and nuance of the assignment. For it is possible that they can become lost in semantics and obfuscation and achieve little in the process.

Claims of extrajudicial killings by Jamaican police are not new. They have been around for decades.

Indeed, Jamaica has among the world's highest rates of police homicides. Last year, police personnel killed 253 civilians. As astonishing as the number may seem, it used to be higher three decades ago, when the number of police killings topped 300 in some years.

SUPPOSED GANGSTERS

Then, as is the case now, there were often accusations that presumed bad men were targeted for death by the police, who would then claim that the victims were killed in gunfights after opening fire on police patrols. Indeed, several policemen over the years have developed reputations as tough, front-line crime fighters, which was often a euphemism for the fact that they had, in the careers, shot dead several persons, had driven fear into bad men, or both.

There was the assumption, however, that while senior officers may have turned a blind eye to the actions of these men, or felt themselves impotent to bend a culture of impunity in the force, there was never an official sanctioning of murder. No one was ever sent with a mission to kill.

The last claim, however, coming from inside the Jamaica Constabulary Force, is that killer squads have been assembled by senior members to hunt for, and bring in dead, supposed gangsters.

GETTING THE TRUTH

The Police High Command rejects these claims and has called on those making the allegations to prove them. We hope that those who know the truth will come forward. But the prospect of arriving at the truth - at a level that will hold up in a court of law - will, we believe, be low. People will fear for their own lives and those of their families.

But that does not mean, either, that we can't get close to it or that an absence of a smoking gun and powder residue on the fingers of the brass will mean that squads don't exist; or that they may not have been informally aggregated by vigilante or rogue elements, some of whom may be relatively high, if not at the very top of the organisation.

In contemplating their assignment, it would do well for the investigators to recall the perception among Jamaicans of the various police special formations of the 1980s and those of more recent vintage. One was popularly dubbed an 'eradication squad'.

The bottom line, though, is that, extrajudicial or not, a high level of police homicides, as the history confirms, is not an effective weapon against crime in Jamaica. Further, it makes sceptics of the population and weakens community support for anti-crime initiatives. It also alienates Jamaica's international partners.

Further, extrajudicial authority to murder, however acquired, is a threat to our democracy.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.