December 6, 2001
JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY Dear Friends, With less than a month to go before the end of the year the Jamaican police have killed more than the reported 140 people killed by them last year. This number is unlikely to include those among the 27 people killed by them during their July 7 to 10 shooting spree in Western Kingston. (More than 20,000 rounds of ammunition were fired by the security forces). The overwhelming majority of these killings, reported by the police as "shootouts," are in fact executions, according to eyewitnesses, or as dictated by commonsense. That police killings have continued unabated despite Amnesty International's April report documenting Jamaica's ‘human rights emergency' leaves little doubt that this is a practice that government cannot or will not stop. In response to the Amnesty report the government has expressed little concern about the high rate of police killings nor has there been any special attempt to bring killer policemen to justice. A new minister of national security, Peter Phillips, has been appointed (as a result of a cabinet reshuffle) but has so far given little indication that he is particularly concerned about police killings. Nor are there any new ideas coming from those whom he might be inclined to listen to. Consider for example the recent report to parliament by Public Defender, Howard Hamilton, which labeled police shoot out stories as incredulous. Instead of going on to propose ways of bringing criminal policemen to justice Hamilton recommends that policemen be retrained in the use of firearms. This proposal is made without any evidence being offered to prove that it is lack of fire arms competency which causes the high rate of police killings. We would argue that one has nothing to do with the other. And, surely, if police stories of gunmen shooting at them are true one could hardly expect them to shoot to maim instead of shooting to kill. Hamilton's proposal skirts the issue of whether police extrajudicial killings is state policy. By ignoring the question Hamilton has disingenuously found a way to avoid confronting the state that pays his salary. So too does a recent plan by private sector and political party interests skirt the issue of policy when it proposes early retiring of senior police officers presumably to bring better and younger managers in control of the force. That the force is poorly managed is obvious but absent a political commitment on the part of the state to respect human rights there is unlikely to be a change in brutal police methods. Minister Philips has so far indicated that his main concern is with drug trafficking and its threat to the stability of the state. Jamaicans would be expected to come together to give full support to the security forces in the fight against this threat. Such a narrow focus on the state is surely to be a convenient way to forestall public demands for radical reform of the police force and ending the policy of extrajudicial killings. Once again we see that in a volatile society with high unemployment it is the security of the state which concerns politicians regardless of party stripe. The idea of a truly democratic state is frightening because of its potential threat to the balance of power which favors those who control the state. In his own unvarnished way the notorious Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams has justified his involvement in extrajudicial killings as a means of protecting the state. What difference there is, therefore, in philosophy between SSP Adams and the new national security minister, touted as a potential future prime minster, should become clear once he delivers his expected crime fighting plan. If your desire is to see him demand and implement measures to force police respect for citizens' human rights we would advise against making any bets. Lloyd D'Aguilar
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