December 6, 2000
JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY Dear Friends, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member of parliament Delroy Chuck has responded, or more correctly decided not to respond to our questions raised about his "respect" for notorious Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. In fact Chuck's letter does not mention Reneto Adams at all, nor does he respond our call for him to publicly challenge the JLP on its attitude towards brutal police methods. We made the point that the JLP has an equally sordid record as far as relying on police brutality and police executions as a method of social control. For Chuck point to his articles of protest written in the 1980s, however courageous, is not enough. In today's reality the government relies on the silence of the opposition parties, the media, the churches and the middle class in general, as support for the policy of police brutality. The silence of the JLP, in particular, as the most likely successor to the present government, is a vital linchpin for the police and the government. Come on Mr. Chuck, you can do much better. Make a loud protest. Stop whimpering. A political career within Jamaica's present system is incompatible with being a human rights activist. The reasons are obvious. The political order is built on injustice. The politician, aspiring or otherwise, works to maintain the status quo. The human rights activist, on the other hand challenges the unjust social order because he or she is not seeking to become part of that injustice. Lloyd D'Aguilar
Dear Lloyd, I think if you read my many articles in the eighties you will see how I fought the then [JLP] government then on its continued use of the Suppression of Crimes Act. I am against any form of state violence and brutality and will always fight oppression and injustice from whatever quarters. You must not think that although I look middle class and may enjoy middle class status that I grew up as a middle class boy. I went to school in the rural area and grew up as a real country boy, attended Kingston College in very deprived circumstances. I can easily appreciate and understand the suffering and deprivation of the underclass and that is why I stand with and for them. Whether you believe that or not will not change the fact. I can assure you that if the next JLP government allows and condones injustice and inhumanities then I will be the first to condemn it, even if I am a part of it. Delroy
Email from Ken Jones: While I acknowledge the virtuous objectives of this group [Jamaicans United Against Police Brutality] and of AI [Amnesty International], I wonder that they do not get to the root of the problem, which is that Jamaica has become a violent and brutal society in which life is cheap and disposable. The Police Force is just one element of this vicious situation. Through inept government, poor economics and improper social development we have been producing increasing numbers of desperate criminals, dons and other lawless persons. These and others from abroad are let loose upon the law-abiding; and then we ask policemen, drawn from the same system, to protect us and themselves from the marauders. What should we expect from this confrontation besides the fighting of fire with fire? It seems to me that we are wasting time pointing fingers at the police out on the violent battleground while ignoring the part being played by the murderers, the robbers, the idle wayward youth and, more than all, those responsible for getting the country into this mess. In fact, we are constantly sending petitions and prayers to "Nero" who is grinning as the flames go higher...Ken
JUAPB RESPONSE All we ask Ken, is that no matter what the circumstance, the police must be upholders of the law not lawbreakers. If they are not held to those standards then why should anyone else respect the law? LD
FROM A CORRESPONDENT It isn't just Jamaica where the police are killing people. All over the "lovely" Caribbean... from Tim Slinger in St. Lucia The death of Barbados' most notorious criminal, Alfred "Al Capone" Harding, was clouded with controversy yesterday following his shooting by St. Lucian police early yesterday. He was shot in the densely populated area of LaClery, just outside the capital of Castries, after he was apprehended by villagers. His death has prompted a full-scale inquiry by the St. Lucia Police Force. Eyewitnesses claimed yesterday a policeman ordered Harding, 51, to lie down and "just gave him two shots" while he was carrying "just a little ice-pick and a glove". But Commissioner of Police Francis Nelson told the DAILY NATION: "The information that I got was that Harding was armed with an ice-pick, and as a result of him being armed, he was shot by the officer who confronted him." Eyewitness Selwyn Joseph said he saw the wanted man early yesterday morning as Harding was leaving a friend's house. "I said the man looked like the man they looking for ‘ the Bajan‘ so I decided to run back by my friend and call a few more guys and tell them: 'Come, I see what look like the Bajan wanted by police as he look like he trying to pick a woman's house,'" Joseph said. According to the eyewitness, he and a group of men gave chase, but Harding tried to hold them at bay by pretending he was pulling a gun from his waist. Joseph said he then sought the assistance of a security guard at a nearby supermarket who joined in trying to catch the wanted man. "He play like if he had something in his waist, and he was going to fire a shot, so me and the others take cover, but when I see a desperate look on his face, I shouted and say: 'Fellas, he ain't got nothing,' so me and the fellas move towards him with cutlass, and we held on to him," Joseph said. According to Joseph, around the same time a policeman who lived in the area arrived at the scene and ordered Harding to "lie down". "He hesitated a little bit, but one of the guys gave him a lash with the cutlass and said to him: '[Harding], you don't see the man would shoot you? Why don't you lie down?' "The man lie down, and the police just gave him two shots, one like it hit him on top of the spine and the other one in his leg. "He [Harding] never really had nothing, just a little ice-pick and a glove. The man had done given up already," Joseph added. Another member of the village party who assisted in apprehending Harding and would only give his name as "Zanzi", supported Joseph's story. Commissioner Nelson told the DAILY NATION yesterday there would be a full-scale investigation into Harding's death. "Since I got into office, we are hearing different versions as to what actually transpired. "I have not been able to gather all the relevant information. What I have done is to assign a senior police officer to look into all the circumstances," he added. Unconfirmed reports have also indicated that Harding was attempting to break into an autoteller machine in the area prior to his death. Attorney-at-law Martinus Francois, who fought the St. Lucian government on inhumane treatment charges and won an over $18 000 award from the high court on Harding's behalf, vowed to take Harding's controversial death "to the highest authorities". "We are going to carry out our own investigation into this matter because it is a very serious matter. We are going to follow the situation closely," he said. Click here to return to Jamaicans United Against Police Brutality homepage. |