April 16, 2001
 

JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY 

 Dear Friends, 

The following is a transcription of a KLAS radio  interview with Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams on the early morning after the killing of the 7 Braeton youth on March 14. Our comments are interspersed in brackets.

ADAMS: As a result of the Above Rocks shooting the police commissioner put a management team in place [he listed the units that were part of this team], and we gathered intelligence. We were at the Braeton site at 3 am with warrants pertaining to the Above Rocks killing. [AS WE STATED BEFORE THE POLICE COMMISSIONER WAS VERY INTIMATELY INVOLVED IN  THE PLANNING OF THIS OPERATION  AND GIVEN THE EXPRESSED CONCERN OF THE GOVERNMENT ABOUT THE KILLING OF THE ABOVE ROCKS POLICEMAN WE HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THE PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY MUST HAVE BEEN MADE AWARE OF THE "INTELLIGENCE''  WHICH HAD BEEN GATHERED. THE MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY WOULD SURELY HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THE PLANS AFOOT, AND SO SHOULD THE PRIME MINISTER WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR SETTING UP THE CRIME MANAGEMENT UNIT (CMU). DID THEY ADVISE THE POLICE TO OPERATE WITHIN THE LAW OR DID THEY GIVE ADAMS HIS USUAL LICENSE TO TAKE NO PRISONERS?]

We signaled our presence and two minutes later a barrage of gunshots came from all the windows of the house. [THE DANISH PATHOLOGIST FOUND  SIX SHOTS ENTERING THE HOUSE FROM TWO CLOSED ALUMINUM WINDOWS  AND ONE EXITING FROM ANOTHER CLOSED WINDOW. SIX OF THE YOUTH WERE SHOT IN THE HEAD AT CLOSE RANGE AND ALL RECEIVED MULTIPLE GUNSHOTS. ACCORDING TO THE PATHOLOGIST "IT IS UNLIKELY THAT THIS PATTERN OF GUN SHOT WOUNDS ON THE DECEASED SHOULD HAVE OCCURRED BY RANDOM SHOOTING FROM OUTSIDE THE HOUSE THROUGH WINDOWS WITH CLOSED ALUMINUM PARSIENNAS.]

There was more firing. Three men escaped and firearms were recovered. Six to seven men were seriously injured, members of a gang that was operating in St. Catherine. BAILEY or VACCIANIE: Escapees? How did they escape? [ADAMS TRIED TO CREATE THE IMPRESSION THAT SOME MEN  ESCAPED IN ORDER TO BUTTRESS HIS STORY OF A SHOOTOUT.]

ADAMS They escaped from an outhouse or a shed.  People were staying there but I did not see them. BAILEY: Outhouse? I understand those lots to be small. VACCIANIE How far is the shed from the house? ADAMS Why are you putting me on a witness stand? [IN OTHER WORDS TAKE WHAT I SAY AT FACE VALUE EVEN IF IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.] I did not see those who escaped. [HE ONLY HEARD THAT THEY ESCAPED BUT WANTS THIS TO BE ACCEPTED AS FACT.]  We found the gun that killed the policeman and two other guns. [WITHIN AN HOUR OR SO AFTER THE END OF THE OPERATIONS, AND CLEARLY WITHOUT ANY BALLISTIC TESTS,  ADAMS IS QUITE SURE THAT HE HAS FOUND THE GUN THAT KILLED THE POLICEMAN.] It is hearsay that three men ran away. [HEARSAY BY WHOM?] BAILEY: What is the serial number of the policeman's gun? ADAMS:  I won't give that right now. [AND THIS INFORMATION AS FAR AS WE KNOW HAS NOT BEEN GIVEN UP TO THIS TIME.]

 [Question about policemen's  injuries in the shootout.]

ADAMS: Some policemen had slight injuries, like scrapes while scrambling for cover. [WHAT A LAUGH]

BAlLEY: What has been the response of the community ADAMS: They are not saying much. [ON THE CONTRARY, COMMUNITY EYEWITNESS SAID QUITE A LOT. THEY HEARD THE YOUNG MEN BEGGING FOR THEIR LIVES].

BAILEY: You say the men are critically wounded? ADAMS: Doctors are now working with some of them at Spanish Town Hospital. [THIS IS A BALD-FACED LIE BECAUSE ADAMS KNEW THAT THE YOUTH WERE ALL KILLED ON THE SPOT] We went to several other places before we went to Braeton. [THIS IS A CRITICAL STATEMENT BY ADAMS WHICH UNFORTUNATELY HIS QUESTIONERS DID NOT FOLLOW UP ON.]

BAILEY: Were the identities of the men in the house known?

ADAMS: Not all. I had warrants for one or two of them. [THIS IS A CRUCIAL PIECE OF INFORMATION BECAUSE IT SUPPORTS OUR THEORY THAT THIS WAS A WELL PLANNED OPERATION WITH THE  CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE AND APPROVAL OF THE POLICE COMMISSIONER.] They were known to members of the team. BAILEY: Are any of the injured likely to be charged? Are they under police guard? ADAMS:  Guns were fired and found. VACCIANIE: Are the injured under guard? Was the building shot up? ADAMS:  I won't divulge that.

Adams is not as good a performer  as he believes he is and this time  he fools only those who want to be fooled. We demand his arrest and trial for murder.

Lloyd D'Aguilar 
Coordinator 
Jamaicans United Against Brutality 

COMMENTS FROM OUR FRIENDS

 I must say I admire your persistence, hard work and faith in bringing about change in a system that has gone wrong. Your very moving article raises my curiosity regarding what is truly in operation in JA as it pertains to the government and the security force. I do not doubt the 'shadiness' of the police force - no pun intended - nor the government, as I have seen in my own family where a member has been a target of the same policeman for 4 years. It is only by God's protection that he has not yet been killed. Until now, there has never been a charge against him, yet he has been locked up 5-6 times over these years. He is currently in jail.

 I know that I have raised the question of an alternative method of achieving justice other than maiming the tourist industry. Do you think that tourism has stemmed the escalation/ existence of crime or  has fueled it in any way? Can you provide a plot - for want of a better word - of how this strategy will achieve the intended goal? That is, the tourism industry is completely wiped out...then what? Will that hinder a trigger-happy policeman from wielding his weapon?

 Apart from the brutality of the police against innocent citizens, are you looking at the crime being carried out by criminals and a possible way to resolve this? In other words, I do not see a wholistic approach in your strategy but maybe you care to enlighten me?

Judith

 JUAPB RESPONSE:

The evidence is that the government has been impervious to local pressure to change the policy of police brutality and police killings. The government has defied the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the US State Department, Human Rights Watch, the British Government and now Amnesty International. Every life is sacred. Giving the police the right to be judge, jury and executioner is a criminal policy. We believe that only international  sanctions, short of the Jamaican people shutting down government and forcing change, will compel the government to abandon its policy of ruling through the use of police terror. The idea of a tourism boycott has already got their attention and cannot be ignored. Rather than believing that the tourist industry will be "completely wiped out" perhaps the prospect of such a development will compel the government to quickly deal with police killings and police brutality and  prevent such a thing from happening. 

I support you 100%. I hope your efforts as well as all others trying to put an end to police brutality in Jamaica (and every where else, for that matter) are fruitful. I personally am tired of the crap  I hear everyday about the "reasons" for police killings. It is appalling and I am sick to my stomach that so many Jamaicans are in support of the killings by the Jamaican police, especially in light of the most recent execution of those 7 boys.

 All those who support the killings should be ashamed of themselves. It could happen to anyone in their own families  Everyone should think carefully about that.

 This is a sad day for Jamaica. Debbie-Ann 

I do believe your effort is noble. Your views are common with most of mine on  this matter. I think as a people we have lost our capacity to think. In fact  there are many police that totally abhor the existence of Adams' death  squad. I have recently joined the NDM and we need to make alliance with as  many interest groups as possible. We know that the road ahead is going to be  long and rough, but we are prepared to work towards a just, transparent and  accountable society. Until then we probably won't be able to put on trial the  greatest perpetrators of crimes against the Jamaican people. I do agree with  you that the people who created and operationalize the "crime management  unit " have a lot of questions to answer.  Best Regards,  Radcliff

To Whom It May Concern.

 I am disgusted by this mail.  It is false, unfair and erroneous.  You have  made some serious accusation [against]  the Prime Minister, the Minister [of National Security] and the Police Commissioner.  Now I understand why people of good repute are refusing to come forward to serve this country.

 How is it that you nor Amnesty have not raised any concern about teacher  Morris or the young police constable from Above Rocks?  Has any one gone to  visit these families?  Justice is not a one sided endeavor.

 I am not saying [that] what the report is saying should be discarded. However,  there is a process that must be followed.  If the Coroner's Inquest should  validate the report, the law must and will take its course.

 I must let you know that according to STATIN, the unemployment rate is 15 percent.

 Jamaica has some serious problems and we have to redouble our efforts to  resolve them.  Don't make it any worse for us by spreading half truths.

Floyd Morris

 JUAPB RESPONSE: 

We admit that the questions we have raised concerning the involvement of  the Police Commissioner, the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Security are of  a serious nature and we do stand by our position that they should be investigated to determine what  role they played in the planning of the operation that  killed  the Braeton youth.  Amnesty International like most human rights groups focus on state abuse but this does not in anyway mean that there is no concern for the victims of crime. And why should a high crime rate be used as a justification for police brutality? The police force was set up to uphold the law failing which the entire society becomes subject to anarchy. 

As much as I am for an impartial investigation into the Braeton killings, I will never support any action that is detrimental to my country. I find Mr. Sane's approach to be high handed and arrogant. To haul Jamaica to the UN and other international bodies before the judicial process within Jamaica has been allowed to run its course, is to declare the police guilty without a trial. Isn't that the point?  These young men were judged guilty before they were tried in a court of law? Why shouldn't the security forces be given the same consideration? I do not believe bringing Jamaica to its economic knees will help anybody, especially those who are poor. If unemployment is high now, imagine what it will be when these sanctions which Amnesty and its supporters want are implemented. I urge you and Amnesty to be careful that the remedy does not kill the patient. If the crime situation and the daily murders go unabated because criminals are emboldened and the security forces are handcuffed, Jamaicans who can will continue to leave in droves out of plain, cold, fear  of crime. There are so many people whose lifelong dreams of going home to retire are being dashed because they fear being crime victims.

 IMPARTIAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE BRAETON KILLINGS, YES!!

 PIERRE SANE AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ACTING AS THE DE FACTO GOVERNMENT OF JAMAICA, NO!!!  Pgbinde 

Greetings  First of all, thanks for sending me this update on the developments as it  is very important to me. Secondly, I commend  Amnesty International for their support. Thirdly, An international boycott of Jamaica as a tourist destination will  help.  Also if you could invite the international companies who do business  with Jamaica to rethink their involvement in the support of a nation that  is killing itself.

 But the most important factor is `self-help' and this is clearly being done  by your group with support from the ones you mentioned, this is, in my  mind, the surest way to achieve results.

 The next step is to get positive.   Offer the nation an alternative government.  This in my mind will give us hope of the end to slavery.  We must start  looking for that new leader who will free our nation and abolish slavery.  Brian 

Thanks for the e-mail updates. I just wish to add that your efforts are not  in vain, even if (as I anticipate), not one policeman is convicted for any  offence in relation to the Braeton massacre. It is very important that the  objection be strenuous, very strenuous. And object we should, on every  occasion. The laws are clear and we are here looking at the lack of  proper  administration and enforcement.

 There is a clear distinction between what criminals do and the standards  applicable to the police. I was therefore in shock at the Gleaner's recent  Vox Pop in which all (men and women), stated that Amnesty had no business  criticizing our police! It seems we are glad to borrow and beg peoples'  money, but think what we do in Jamaica is our business and no one else's.  Presumably until we beg again. To maintain the faith I put it down to  absolute ignorance which I always excuse.

 The police may therefore think twice before doing it again, though I am  concerned that they may simply become more skilled at hiding murder. This  has been going on for a long long time. For me it hardly matters if it is  seven at once or one, seven times as has been more often the case.

 I wonder whether it is possible for the same alleged gun to circulate and  surface many times in alleged shootouts. Is there a log? How foolproof is  it? I can assure you that if it is in the hands of the police, these guns  have featured after the fact in many alleged shootouts. There was a time  when knives used to be planted, when that became clearly ridiculous,  firearms began to appear, no doubt in some instances planted. In one case I  recall the firearm could not even fire, it had seized up! Yet there was a  shootout in which presumably it was used after which it mysteriously seized  up again.

Best Regards Donovan Jackson 

The pathologist report, part of which is in today's Gleaner appears to my mind as what might be the basis for a call for further action. It is part of building a case against the police. My impression, and I hope I am not wrong, is that we are calling for our nation to adopt processes and procedures that are credible and based on appropriate standards. We have to lead by example. Calling for the arrest of the police without an investigation that establishes a case is homologous to the police saying the boys/men are guilty and dispensable without a process of investigation, trial, and conviction. Until someone can convince me otherwise, I hold to that position. Police men and women are entitled to due process. We cannot assume their guilt before we make a case.

 For the rest, I agree that however bad crime is the police force must be properly trained. Police handling guns claimed to be found on crime scenes is not good enough; police shooting men six and seven times in the head is not good enough; police calling upon me to believe what they say in killing men who come from circumstances like those from which I come is not good enough. That is not the kind of society that I want to belong to. Of course, the wider issues of the slow justice system and poverty are more fundamental; the shooting is only a symptom of those problems. Our society needs to look for solutions. Killing poor people's children whom we have made into criminals is not one of those solutions. We need to stop creating criminals and have a justice system that works. Irony is, the police killings, the proposed solution in the face of a slow judicial machinery, is as much a part of absence of justice as the judges who sit on their asses and verbally and emotionally abuse poor people in courts. The class structure, the plantation structure must to be dismantled.

Anthony Lewis

 JUAPB RESPONSE: 

We are calling for the arrest of the policemen because we believe based on the evidence that they are guilty of murder. By calling for their arrest and trial is part of due process isn't it?   We  fail to see how this could be equated with the police denying the 7 youth due process and killing them on the spot. We support investigations of every kind but at the end of the day we demand  that they be put on trial. Too many police killings are NEVER brought before a court of any kind. 

The recent Braeton killings have brought the country to a sharp divide. One commentator who I find most appealing on the events that might have occurred is Mr. Espuet. There are many that argue that the boys were involved in crime and that they therefore deserved what happened to them. Had the police captured them alive and they were guilty would it have been any different if the courts sentenced them to death. I [don't] believe that even if those boys were guilty of those crimes of which they are being accused they should have been killed; neither by the state nor by the police.

 Many of our great thinkers, the majority of which seem to support the death penalty, have been examining causes as to why the youths might have turned to a life of crime and violence. The most professed cause is that they lacked proper parenting. If it is that the lack of proper parenting made them into criminals then surely they could have been rehabilitated. Whatever other reason that made them into criminals too, I believe, could be reversed and those youths be restored back to society as valuable citizens.

Mark Clarke 

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