THE revelation of the deepening link between some members of the police force and organised crime, along with a suggestion that the Jamaican state may be ripe for ‘capture’ by criminal and corrupt elements, requires well-thinking citizens to demand new levels of accountability from leadership at all levels in the society.

“I am deeply concerned about what appears to be an escalation in the activities or participation of members of the JCF [Jamaica Constabulary Force] in criminal gangs as well as consorting with known criminals,” Acting Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington said during a media briefing at the Office of the Police Commissioner last Thursday.

The acting commissioner was reacting to news less than 24 hours earlier that two members of the force were taken into custody for their suspected role in a daylight gangland shoot-out in Hayes, Clarendon, involving members of the feared Clansman and Boston criminal gangs.

Earlier in the week, 36-year-old Constable Steve Brown was shot in Clarendon as he drove a man who had gone to court to answer certain charges, including illegal possession of a firearm. Brown was not on duty at the time of the incident.

Reports are that contests between organised gangs, especially in St Catherine and Clarendon, have become so fierce that some criminals have resorted to hiring corrupt policemen and women as escorts and otherwise assist them in their enterprises.

Mr Ellington’s concerns came just days after Transparency International (TI) issued a report on corruption following meetings and discussions with key reformers in Jamaica late last year.

TI said the officials, who lead various anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies, consistently highlighted several key issues facing the country that weaken good governance. The two most urgent issues discussed were:

* Extensive drug and arms trading and associated gang operations which fuel corruption (through bribery, extortion, payoffs, etc) and insecurity; and

* Lack of transparency and accountability in political finance, which facilitates ‘influence peddling’ by elites and corrupt economic interests.

“Combined, these two conditions suggest a clear and present danger of state capture in the country. Moreover, the extra burden of paying bribes, which amounts to a ‘corruption tax’, affects major investment and hinders economic development.”

TI defines state capture as, “A situation where powerful individuals, institutions, companies or groups within or outside a country use corruption to shape a nation’s policies, legal environment and economy to benefit their own private interests.” Simply put, they have effective control over the government.

Neither Mr Ellington’s ‘revelation’ nor TI’s conclusion are new. Previous commissioners of police, including Lucius Thomas and Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, spoke candidly about criminals in the force.

And Assistant Commissioner Les Green recently drew fire from the Police Federation for asserting that not all members of the force supposedly killed ‘in the line of duty’ were actually carrying out legitimate police work; some were part of criminal gangs.

Opportunities for renewal

What is significant now is the opportunity presented by a new commissioner, acting or otherwise, to make ‘another’ fresh start; and increasing awareness among some pubic officials as well as civil society that the country is paying an unacceptably high price for corruption.

Here, I commend Mr Ellington for immediately facing the press to discuss the developments last week, his forthright condemnation of the evident wrongdoing and his apparent resolve to do something about it.

I take him at his word when he said, “I want to state categorically that as long as I am in charge, I will use every lawful means at my disposal to find those individuals and to get rid of them from the JCF on the grounds that they have lost my confidence and they have lost the moral authority to continue serving the public.”

He has the power to remove rogue cops ‘in the public interest’ where there’s credible intelligence of wrongdoing that may not rise to the level of evidence required for successful criminal prosecution. He should not flinch from using that power. Eleven officers have been removed under this ‘heading’ so far this year.

Then there is the Police Anti-Corruption Branch, headed by Assistant Police Commissioner Justin Felice, who is leading the charge to rid the force of corrupt cops. Some 60 charges have been filed so far this year. These efforts must be intensified.

But they must also be supported by good rank-and-file policemen and women who must know that their reputation and effectiveness are undermined by the criminal elements in their midst.

So even as Mr Ellington was urging members of the public to report instances when policemen or women are seen in the company of known gangsters, it is also important that good officers stop using the traditional curtain of silence as a shield.

On the corruption side, TI pointed to “several factors” that favour sustainable anti-corruption efforts in Jamaica including “widespread recognition” among the government, civil society and donor community that corruption was a key challenge facing the country and that corruption and crime in Jamaica are mutually reinforcing phenomena, which seriously undermine good governance efforts.

Among the wider population, TI referred to a 2008 survey by Vanderbilt University of 22 countries in the Americas which found that over 85 per cent of the population perceived corruption as widespread. Promisingly, the study also showed a significant decrease in the percentage of the population willing to acquiesce to bribery in 2008 (39 per cent) as compared to 2006 (57 per cent).

Lack of political will

While better policing, institutional reform and citizen engagement are essential to anti-corruption efforts, they will be ineffective unless there is the political will to seriously tackle the root causes of crime and corruption.

As the 2006 MacMillan Report suggested, major political and police reforms were necessary. These include severance of links between politics and crime; the dismantling of political garrisons; termination of contracts with garrison dons; prevent subcontracting to a firm controlled by criminal elements; do away with dons making contributions to political parties; disarm garrisons; depoliticisation of the management of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF); and increasing the capacity and effectiveness of the force.

The MacMillan committee, which drew its membership from experienced professionals in law enforcement, criminology and community activism, was chaired by former commissioner of police Trevor MacMillan who was later to serve a short, undistinguished stint as the second minister of national security in the Bruce Golding administration.

But there has been no real effort at stripping garrison dons of all criminally acquired wealth or power in communities under their control. And there has even been less effort at reforming campaign financing.

Over the last 40 years or so a succession of reports and studies have affirmed the link between politics and organised crime, although it seems that the relationship has changed from one where the political representative exercised control over ‘bad men’ who helped to keep the community safe.

Now, the experts say, the proceeds from organised crime (including drugs and extortion) are so large that we have seen political leaders lamenting publicly that they have lost control. The roles may have switched and politically connected ‘dons’ exercise tremendous influence in the political process. That is the ultimate ‘state capture’ that we must worry about.

kcr@cwjamaica.com