Friendly police force needed to fight crime – Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin

Feb 27, 2011 News

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Crime must be tackled simultaneously if the Government is to achieve any long term sustainable reduction

By Rabindra Rooplall
“The police force bequeathed to us is what I term the British export version of police modeled off the Royal Ulster Constabulary. They are paramilitary forces designed to suppress riots and insurrections, and generally to keep the natives in line. They were never designed to be friendly to their own people.

“We gleefully declare that we embrace community based policing as the philosophy that will guide the delivery of policing services, yet we maintain the kind of training, structures and culture that produce paramilitary officers.”
These comments came from former Chief-of-Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force and former Commissioner of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin.
He was speaking at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, Friday night, at the Rotary Club of Georgetown World Understanding Dinner.
The Rear Admiral said that after so many years of independence the former colonial masters cannot be blamed for the police forces more closely resembling the constabularies that are set up in Britain.
He said that Governments cannot continue to tinker with the periphery of the policing challenge with various reform programmes. Useful as these reform programmes might be, Lewin said that what is required is a radical transformation plan designed to re-orient and refocus our constabularies to be a deliverer of service rather than an instrument for the application of force.
Such a transformed constabulary must have at its disposal a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team to take on those assignments that require those specialised skills.
He said that governance cannot be simply left to Governments any more than citizens can just leave policing to the police. “It seems to me that civil society fell asleep over the last several decades. What else could explain why we were content to sit back and accept a steadily deteriorating situation? Maybe it was easier for many to cut and run by emigrating rather than to remain and let our voices be heard…
“Did our independence come too cheaply? Anything we acquire cheaply we tend not to place much value on. There is no single rallying point or event that unites us as a people. We never fought, bled and died for our independence. This probably explains why our political class could easily divide us into two political tribes.”
Lewin further said that the root causes of crime and violence are multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. It stands to reason, therefore, that the interventions must be multi-faceted and multi-dimensional.
Each of the five dimensions must be tackled simultaneously if the Government is to achieve any long term sustainable reduction.
These are: links to increased levels of crime and violence, connections to the trade and use of illegal arms and ammunitions, corrupt state officials, law enforcement and state institutions, negative effect on legitimate business [money laundering], increased levels of drug abuse with its attendant social and economic consequences, as a consequence it creates a negative reputation for our countries and our nationals, and it can fund acts of terrorism.
He noted that the tendency to overemphasize the law enforcement dimension to the neglect of the others will only bring about short term gains. “There is no quick fix or silver bullet solution. All stakeholders must know and accept the part they play or contribute to the problem and be resolute in their determination to confront it.”
Whenever I deal with the issue of crime and counter-crime strategies I always conclude with the following:
“Security forces successes alone will not stamp out the threats to security; they may drive it deeper underground or force the criminal elements to allow their activities to lie dormant for a period. The only sure way is to remove the conditions which stimulated criminality in the first place.
“There should be a joint politico-security forces aim, namely, to afford protection against criminal elements while at the same time raising the standard of living, improving health and educational facilities, engendering faith in democratically elected government by demonstrating justice and fair play, and generally by winning the support of the people.
“No amount of foreign interference or assistance short of complete domination will remedy a deteriorated internal security situation unless the people concerned take action for themselves. A well-defined security aim is vital but success on the security side will be useless unless the complementary political aim is achieved. The cause, not just the effect, of the problem, must be removed.”

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