Call de Police … for de Police

So, am I expected to believe that “Operation Restore Confidence” will be properly manned and successfully executed by the same officers and law-enforcement units that the prime minister put over his knee and spanked just the other day?  Well, I don’t know about y'all, but changing two words in a title that rusted really fast does nothing to make me feel better about our crime situation.

In fact, several of the planned interventions are already setting me on edge.  But before I tell you why, let me ask these questions: Wasn’t serious crime – apart from the treating and bribery, of course – already spiking before April 30th?  And didn’t we have both a Throne Speech and Budget Speech after the April 30th general election?  

Ok. So you will understand when I ask the prime minister: “From whence cometh thou, Gehazi,” with this sudden concern?  With no evidence to the contrary, I can only surmise that it was prompted solely by the attempted homicide/maybe suicide (?) of the man to whom the Labour Party’s 2014 election victory is credited.  And if so, then, naturally, iron would be too soft a metal to protect the goose that laid the golden egg.

So here we are now, with promises and plans for increased stop-and-search exercises; removal of heavy tints from vehicles; and even covert drone surveillance.  But no plans to resuscitate the Integrity Commission or enforce the Prevention of Corruption Act.  And nothing but promises to open the office of the Information Commission.  I guess that is because arresting white-collar crime might directly interfere with the Administration’s self-enrichment agenda.

And then there’s the disturbing rumour that a disgraced police officer is to be brought back into active service, allegedly to ensure that “illegals” are weeded out from among the immigrant population. That’s a big laugh, on one hand; but, on the other, “joke to chaffo is death to crappo.”

What confidence could possibly be restored in a Force where the lower ranks have long expressed resentment for a system in which the good and decent officers are kept down and underpaid – while those willing to enforce the dictates of politicians are promoted and rewarded…even when on suspension?

What confidence can the ordinary man have in a system where the prime minister can issue threats against a judicial officer, while a police officer, sworn to protect and serve, is deeply implicated – and not yet exonerated – in a high crime that undermines not only national, but regional and international security via the illicit manufacture of illegal passports?  Not that I think, for a moment, that he was doing anything except carrying out the orders of a higher power, mind you… .

But how, then, can we expect the United States to trust us to keep its borders safe?  Can we expect them to lift the restrictions and remove the bond on us when we can’t distinguish between de policeman and de t’ief?  When the Force shows more “strong” against peaceful citizens protesting the COVID-19 vaccine mandate than for the bosses who make Customs officers – fellow law-enforcement, though they are – into corpses?

And then there’s the bright idea of introducing drones into a place where APUA takes its electricity six, eight, 10 times a month.  So who is going to run this particular programme? Not the officer who, following the Bronco-gate Scandal, was put to monitor intelligence data, I hope.  Because you know the adage: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… .”  But, then again, shame has never been a redeeming quality of this Administration.

I think it’s a question the population should have answered, though, because some of us already know what it’s like to be marked by the Police and surveilled, by phone and in person in our own bedrooms; to have our photos taken; and to have our license-plate numbers recorded – for no reason other than for a flex or harassment.

Who needs to be watched when, in our nightgowns or boxers, we take out the garbage on pick-up day?  Or worse? A man’s home is his castle and a woman’s is her palace, and walking about half-naked on one’s property is still permissible. But who wants pictures of themselves – which can easily be manipulated in this Age of Artificial Intelligence – in the hands of officers we wouldn’t trust with a View Finder?

During the campaign for the CCJ to become our final court of appeal, one of my colleagues popularized the phrase “Trust is a must!”  It is still the prerequisite for restoring confidence in the system. 

Perhaps we should start with a Cabinet reshuffle that will give us a minister who actually gives a damn about the safety of the public and will work to ensure that highways and streets are properly lighted; that police neighbourhood patrols are regular and visible; that the consignees of drug shipments at the ports are interdicted before the contraband is removed; and that internal investigations are undertaken and the bad seeds in the Force are weeded out. 

That’s just the start. But from these actions – not one-offs, but sustained – confidence will begin to grow.  Until then, may God save us from bad cops and from the politicians who control them.  Because when you call the police, unfortunately, some police might come… .