Dear Editor,

Jamaican police killed about 1,000 young men between the time they shot Jermey Smith in June 2002 and Eric Gayle in March 2010. In 2007 alone, 272 civilians died at the hands of Jamaican police. By comparison, New York, a city with a population three times Jamaica’s, had 13 police fatal shootings in 2006.

In theory, Eric Gayle’s family should benefit from a new law, passed last month, to “set up an independent authority to investigate instances of abuse by members of the security forces”. However, new laws and new entities over the years have done little to protect citizens’ rights against the state. The police and communities give completely different accounts of police fatal shootings – police say “shoot-out”, communities say “murder in cold blood”. However, the odds significantly favour impunity for police who take civilian life.

Some months ago, the minister of national security, reading from a prepared speech, said he would “use every effort” to defend police officers, who were “hauled before the courts like common criminals”.

Just over two weeks ago, I attended a hearing intended to appeal to the Jamaican government to put in place credible systems to protect the right to life of civilians like Jermey Smith. The Jamaican government did not turn up for the hearing.

If the state cannot or will not protect Jermey Smith’s and Eric Gayle’s right to life, we are all unsafe in Jamaica. Indeed, crime data show that about 80 per cent of murderers walk the streets free.

So what can we do? If we decide every life (most of all our own) has value, and if we think we might want to live in or visit Jamaica, we might consider demanding accountability from those we place in positions of authority like Prime Minister Bruce Golding, Minister of National Security Dwight Nelson, Minister of Justice Dorothy Lightbourne, Public Defender Earl Witter, Acting Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington, Chairman of the Police Public Complaints Authority, former Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe and Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn.

An African proverb says, “If your neighbour’s house burns, draw water for putting out the fire on yours.” The fire next time might come anywhere, and from any direction.

Yvonne McCalla Sobers

sobersy@yahoo.com