Monday, February 25, 2013

An Amazing Police Force

I suspect the Jamaican Police Force is unique in many ways, unfortunately, very little of it is good!

One of the experiences I had with our beloved force  which I am positive no one in any other part of the world ever had, was some years  ago when my home was broken into and they came to the scene without fingerprinting equipment. When I asked about this, they told me there was a shortage of the equipment but they would call me when  one was available.

Well as promised, they did call to say they were coming to do the check for finger prints....that was 3 weeks later lol.

I guess I am lucky  though that my experiences with the madness that passes for policing here has  not been lethal.

Unfortunately Constable Ricardo McKenzie cannot say the same, for on Wednesday January 30th 2013, he was killed at the police academy, where live ammunition was used in a training  exercise at the firing range.

While constable McKenzie was the most unfortunate victim of that incident, he was  not the only victim as 5 other trainees were injured.

What was inexplicable too was that the senior officers at the Academy refused to cooperate with the commissioner of Police Owen Ellington when  he visited and tried to get information as to what exactly happened . This  led the commissioner to publicly speculate  that it did not look like an accident!

As a result  of the non-cooperation of senior officers, the commissioner interdicted six senior firearm instructors at the academy and set up an inquiry into what had led to the tragic death of the young constable and injuries of the others.

One month later, the constable has was buried, but guess what, nothing further has been heard about how such a tragic "accident" could have occurred.

I wonder if the Jamaican public will ever hear what actually happened on that fateful  day? I certainly am not holding my breath!



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