‘CLEAR THEM OUT’

A former commissioner of police has called for a radical shake-up in law enforcement to rein in violent crime, with a purge of the constabulary articulated as crucial to boosting public confidence.

“Discover them, clean them out, and clear them out,” Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin said in an appeal Wednesday to rid the force of criminal collaborators.

“... An individual who has the power of constable is among the most powerful persons of Jamaica, [and] a criminal with the powers of a constable is among the most dangerous in Jamaica,” Lewin, also a former head of Jamaica's army, remarked during a policy summit on justice held under the auspices of rights group Jamaicans for Justice in New Kingston.

Lewin's lobby comes against the backdrop of worrying levels of contamination – or infiltration – of the guardians of security by criminals – a concern laid bare in accounts of police and military complicity in the ongoing Clansman-One Don Gang trial and revelations last week of a police-laden gang based in Clarendon.

The alleged police gang ringleader is Constable Tafari Silvera, who was arrested in June 2021.

Silvera and two other civilians, Christopher Robinson and Mark Bennett, are currently facing charges of conspiracy to murder in connection with a plot to kill a suspected gang member accused of being a police informer. Several other cops have been linked to the criminal organisation.

“From the recent incident, my takeaway from it is a positive one, because there is no secret that there are criminals in the force. They did not join the force as criminals; they morphed,” he said.

Lewin's call for increased accountability was echoed by Anthony Harriott, director of The University of the West Indies' Institute of Criminal Justice and Security, who advocated Wednesday for a re-examination of the police force, with an external oversight and accountability body that can facilitate the participation of individuals affected by social injustice.

Like those issued by the Independent Commission of Investigation, Harriott believes that reports on corrupt and criminal cops must be made public in order to be transparent with society.

“I am for a system of oversight that brings investigation, inspection, and the ability to manipulate rewards and punishment in one place,” he said at the justice policy summit.

Reiterating his opposition to the extended states of emergency (SOEs) – positioned by the Holness administration as a multi-year security strategy – Lewin criticised its overuse as a primary anti-crime tool.

SOEs have effectively been shelved on two fronts – because of vigorous pushback by the parliamentary Opposition, whose support is vital for extensions through a Senate vote; and as the administration awaits an appeal to be heard to a court ruling that some arrests under emergency powers were unconstitutional.

Lewin argued that limiting criminals' freedom of movement could not be achieved by stationing soldiers underneath tents at fixed locations in communities.

Instead, he has proposed mobile stations as one of a suite of measures to combat crime, with cops spending up to half an hour per stop in various neighbourhoods, to conduct checks and patrols.

“The criminals must be kept off balance. They are thinking and we are not thinking. It is as simple as that and we have got to be adaptable,” he said.

“Don't wait for their new methodologies to take hold before we play catch-up. Think it through! What are we going to do next?” Lewin added.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com