Mark Wignall | Can the last-resort SOE work?

All of last week I spent some time in Florida, where I met a most interesting criminal investigator and lawyer. He had Jamaican roots, and based on what he said, he was almost totally convinced that Jamaica was being played up, down, and across the keys of a broken piano.

“Your prime minister is trying to insinuate that foreign elements are running the criminal operations in Jamaica. Let me tell you this: that is not so.”

I really didn’t want to have this conversation with him because I was visiting with family, and I wanted to eat, drink, dance, and make a fool of myself.

After convincing me of his bona fides and his interest in applying for the job of commissioner of police a few years ago, he said, “The majority of the murder, robbery, drug distribution, and mayhem is local, and the foreign criminals have no say in it at all, let alone even know what crime is going on.

“I have worked in the American-Jamaican crime connection for 21 years. I did not apply for the commissioner’s job because I knew I would become as frustrated as your present commissioner of police must be at this time.”

“You will not be told this, but the Jamaican criminal gangs in the US had decoupled themselves from the gangs in Jamaica to make it harder for law enforcement in the US and Jamaica to track what they were doing and put together charges against the US-based Jamaican criminals and vice versa.”

In the new year we will be having heavy doses of the same medicine that we were force-fed in 2022.

The lead ‘researchers’ in the lab are now telling us that as much as they have tried, the criminals have not responded well to all that was placed as sturdy stumbling blocks to destroy their launching sites.

“Your PM has declared new states of emergency (SOEs), and the Government of Jamaica has given names of people in the US that are contributing to the high crime rate and murder in Jamaica. That all sounds good. But a deeper analysis of these developments leads me to believe these latest developments are a distraction, a political farce.”

We both agreed that the SOEs will not yield results desired by the Government even though it was my firm view that they reduced the mobility of violent gang leaders.

According to my friend,“the SOEs do reduce crime. But they are the last tool the Government has. And the criminals know this.”

My mind was dragged to something that happened the day before.

While I was shivering in 40 degree weather outside of a Jamaican bakery shop, an incident took place across the road in another small plaza. A police car drove up. In another three minutes, four more police cars arrived. It turned out to be a minor matter. In about seven minutes, the police cars left.

The reality of resources with our local police slammed me in the gut. In Jamaica, it is most probable that not a single police car would be available. Unless there was a cold body to stuff in the trunk of the car.

WHERE THE BIG CRIMINALS PLAY

My friend is a criminologist, and he has a law degree and argues cases at a high level in Florida, Atlanta, and in sections of the Tristate area of the US.

He said: “The US is concerned about money laundering going on in Jamaica. While the PM’s focus is on murder and mayhem, criminals are laundering vast sums of money in the Jamaican economy and acquiring startling wealth.

“This wealth can be used to fuel corruption. The US is very concerned about this and has been in dialogue with the Jamaican Government about passing some potent anti-money laundering laws. Some of the dirty money is in the US, and the US does not like that one bit. The current Jamaican Government has been thought to be deaf and silent on the subject of money laundering, and the US is getting frustrated.”

Then he dropped a bomb on me.

“The FBI, DEA, ATF, and the Department of Justice, with their vast resources, know who the Jamaican criminals are in the US and what connections they have to Jamaica. It is disingenuous of the PM to state to the people of Jamaica that names have been given to the US of criminals as if it is some state secret that the US does not know. Really?”

We discussed criminality in Jamaica and its direct links with politicians in the late 1970s.

He said, “The US knows more about Jamaican criminals than the Jamaican Government, JCF and JDF put together.”

TRACK STARS AND THOSE FAKING IT

Two Tuesdays ago, I was in a supermarket, and my eyes caught up with the shape and form of a well-known Jamaican mega track star.

“Excuse me, am I right that you may be who I think you are?” I said.

She responded cagily. “I don’t know who you think I am,” she answered. There was no smile. And why should there be?

I wasn’t sure that I should continue probing. After all she was entitled to her privacy.

But I decided to push the envelope. “You are the lady,” I said. “I am the father of Maurice Wignall … .”

“…Yes,” she said. “I see the resemblance.” I figured that with my son as an Olympian, that would spark something in her. So I used him.

“I just want to tell you that you are a genuine champion, and a lot of us in Jamaica admire you.”

The smile that came across her face was priceless as she said, “Thank you very much.”

I had no idea that a small crowd had gathered until a few people broke out in applause of her as they witnessed the interaction.

I thought of posting on Twitter or Facebook. But then I said to myself that she ought to be deserving of her privacy.

Was she warm? Not readily so. And she was also entitled to be cold because she is human. But she wasn’t. She eventually opened up and the people applauded.

Thanks, Elaine.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.