Talkative, tough cop, Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams, last night branded as “preposterous” suggestions that he was mobilising a demonstration for when he appears in court tomorrow to be charged with murder.

Adams has also told the police high command that it would better spend its time “gathering intelligence” on criminals rather than worrying about such possibilities, if it in fact has such concerns.

The senior police officials have since last week been known to be concerned at the likelihood of a public, and noisy, show of support for Adams and the five other cops who will each be charged with four counts of non-capital murder at the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston in relation to the Crawle killings last May.

The full group is:

. Adams;

. Devon Bernard;

. Latrid Gordon;

. Roderik Collier;

. Patrick Coke; and

. Shane Lyons.

Yesterday a letter emerged, apparently from police chief Francis Forbes, and intended for Adams, warning that it would be a breach of police regulations if in fact he was inciting a demonstration.

The letter is addressed to Adams in care of Assistant Commissioner of Police Arthur “Stitch” Martin, Adams’ commanding officer at the Mobile Reserve Unit.

It said that the police had received information that Adams was actively encouraging persons to print T-shirts, with his photograph, to be worn in a demonstration at tomorrow’s court hearing.

“Be advised that such preparatory action is likely to result in your coming in conflict with Section 69 of the Jamaica Constabulary Force Act, which prohibits any member from engaging in acts that will bring the force in disrepute,” the letter said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of crime, Lucius Thomas, last night told the Observer that he knew nothing of the letter but that did not mean it was not sent. Other senior officers could not be reached.

Last night, Adams said that he had not received the letter, but had heard of its contents from reporters and radio broadcasts.

“Absolutely preposterous,” he quipped in a response to the allegation that he was mobilising support.

“I don’t have to tell the Jamaican people to support me,” Adams told the Observer. “I love the court, the officers of the court and the Jamaican people so much (that) I would never do anything to make them uncomfortable.”

Adams, who is not shy of the limelight, has been dogged by controversy in his various assignments in the police force, but became an even more contentious character when he was made head of a new police squad, the Crime Management Unit (CMU), at the height of a crime wave in 2001. The CMU’s mandate was to dismantle gangs as well as target extortionists, carjackers and so-called dons.

Human rights groups were soon accusing the CMU of extrajudicial killings and the controversy reached a crescendo with the March 2002 killing of seven young men at a house in Braeton, St Catherine in what the police claimed was a shoot-out.

Family members and rights groups insisted that the youngsters were executed. A coroner’s jury, in a majority decision, ruled that no one was criminally responsible for the deaths and late last year the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ordered that six police officers who were on the operation be charged with murder. Devon Bernard was among that group.

The CMU was disbanded and Adams sent to a desk job at the Mobile Reserve in the face of another controversy just under a year ago when four persons, including two women, were shot dead in Crawle, Clarendon during a CMU operation.

In the Crawle case, the local police got help from Scotland Yard for the investigation and sent evidence abroad for forensic analyses.

But even during his troubles, Adams has remained personally popular. In the past, opinion surveys have registered over 60 per cent support for his efforts and more recently there have been several calls for his return to active duty in the face of Jamaica’s high crime rate.

Adams last night said that dealing with the crime problem would be a better focus for the police.

“I would advise the police hierarchy to direct its energies to gathering intelligence with an aim of apprehending the criminals that are slaughtering the Jamaican people,” he said.