Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Not surprised there is no confidence in the JCF

Published:Thursday | August 18, 2022 | 12:09 AM

THE EDITOR, Madam:

According to Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” The[re is] buzz in the news this week [about] a recent poll that indicated low public confidence in the commissioner of police and the police force. On the evening of August 16, I observed a small (yellow) bus – perhaps a Toyota Hiace or a Nissan Caravan – speeding along Rousseau Road towards Maxfield Avenue. Behind was a police vehicle – a pickup registered AW**. The bus pulled over and so, too, did the police pickup right behind it. With rifles drawn, the police approached the bus.

“Bring all of yuh papers come,” said one of the policemen in a terse or perhaps frustrated tone. I pulled over and observed the ‘operation’ for a moment. Not seeing much from the vantage point of my vehicle, I proceeded outside and stood on the sidewalk. Still not pleased that I wasn’t seeing much, I planned to walk pass the two vehicles posing as a pedestrian. As I was about to pass the police pickup, I heard one of the policemen saying to a young man who was a passenger on the bus, “Go inna the blood cl**t van!” This is a member of the police force who would likely charge members of the public for using similar language. In surprise, I uttered, “Really?” and was barked at, “Leave police business alone!” [by] the vile policeman.

What will be the fate of that youth? Will they pin a charge on him? Where did they take him? Which station? Will they allow him a phone call? Will they let him go or will they lock him in a cell where he might be beaten, perhaps to death (like Mario Deans).

I tell my boys about how Agana Barrett and Mario Deans met their fatal demise while in police lock-up. Barrett was reportedly “scooped up” in a police operation and suffocated to death in an overcrowded cell built for a few, and Deans was reportedly arrested because he dared to open his mouth (like the youth above), arrested, placed in a cell, and beaten. He eventually died. Incidents like these and the one above (that I witnessed first-hand) make one wonder whether some of these policemen have children or whether or not they are schooled in customer service. The members of the public are customers, aren’t we? It is, therefore, highly likely that the buzz of no confidence in the police force will continue until something different is done.

H. JOHNSON