"YOU can deny it as much as you can, you can rationalise it as much as you want, Tivoli Gardens represents the mother of all garrisons," Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin said. This comment made him very unpopular with members and supporters of the Jamaica Labour Party, who claimed that the former police commissioner had become a part of the PNP smear campaign against Tivoli.

True to his promise when he took on the role of top cop, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin stated: "One of the things I believe is that when you are contemplating issues that will affect people, you need to communicate", and he promised that constant communication would be his platform while he was the commissioner of police.

The need for open communication with a concerned public was perhaps a challenge, given his 37-year military career and former role as head of the Jamaica Defence Force - whose operations and activities are by their nature steeped in secrecy - but talk he did. And naturally, he made statements that weren't popular. "If you are so religious that the occasional Saturday creates a conflict, then you have a problem," he said, calling for members of the force who chose religion over their policing duties to quit the force. This made him very unpopular with the Seventh-day Adventist Church Community. The fact of the matter is that crime doesn't take a day off, and all hands need to be on deck at all times if we are to curb the crime monster.

After 169 days in office, Lewin resigned, stating that he had failed to perform as the island's top cop (May 2008 was the bloodiest in the island's history with the killing of 197 people) and that he did not have the full support of the rank-and-file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. "When one mentions the word police, I am sure that one of the first things that come to mind is the ugly word corruption" is a statement that would not have endeared him to his officers.

Whatever the reason, he felt it was best for him to resign, but after consulting with the prime minister who promised the full backing of the Government, he decided to stay. By the end of the following year, Lewin would resign for the second time from the Defence Force, saying the political directorate had failed to provide him with a crime plan. In his defence, the PM said that he had "requested that the police submit to cabinet, through the minister of national security, a strategic crime plan". Lewin criticised politicians for their role in presiding over garrison constituencies, which cause crime to choke the society.

Just last week Lewin said a mouthful on Garfield Burford's DIRECT on CVM TV. He said that in the 15 minutes it took to drive from briefing the minister of national security to briefing the prime minister, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke had been tipped off that the United States would make a request for his extradition.

In essence he has suggested that information that was known only to a few -- the Americans, the national security minister, and the commissioner -- was somehow leaked to Christopher Coke. It's all the talk this week, and while the public is left waiting with bated breath for the proof that what Lewin has stated is true, the talk is turning into a debate as to whether or not Lewin is in breach of the100-year-old Official Secrets Act.

The Act of 1911 prohibits public servants from revealing certain information which affects areas of national security, and the minister of national security says he will now monitor all of Lewin's utterances within the context of the Act. If Lewin is found to be in breach of the act, then perhaps he'll be charged, or gagged, or both. Once again we would have shot the very brave messenger without heeding the message.

But let's not get distracted, let's ask instead: Was Tivoli the mother of all garrisons? Are there policemen in the force whose religious beliefs preclude them from performing duties required by the essential services? Did the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force publicly reveal before unbeknownst levels of corruption in the force? Does the purging of garrisons and attempt to quell criminal garrison activities put the society in a chokehold? Is it true that the Government, after 14 years in opposition, had developed no crime plan, insisting that the administration is to provide only leadership, resources and policy direction in the fight against crime?

If the answer to these questions is "yes" then it follows, albeit simplistically, that if Lewin's communiqués so far have been truthful then his latest utterance could be truthful too. We hope the wait for the truth is not very long, and that whatever the truth is, that honour will prevail. And then we can begin again.

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