Dear Editor,

What has become of the reports/allegations of 31-year-old Kamoza Clarke having been brutally beaten at the Falmouth police lock-up last month?

If it is eventually confirmed that Mr Clarke was beaten, it will, I am sure, resurrect for many the almost daily similar brutish acts over the years by our security forces. The result is our police force having the distinction of the highest per capita killings in the world, at approximately 140 per year.

Why can’t we understand that unless we bring police brutality to an end we are not going to make any real advances as a society? It matters not what the colour, class, mental state or background is of the Jamaican that is beaten, killed, tortured or abused by the police. What matters is that an attack on any Jamaican is an attack on all Jamaicans. If the police are allowed to continue to abuse the rights of Jamaicans with impunity, then we are nurturing and sustaining a society that will be forever violent.

The different oversight and accountability bodies of the police have been ineffective. We must, therefore, protect INDECOM’s efforts to ensure a just society where the rights of all Jamaicans are respected.

Colonel Allan Douglas

Kingston 10

alldouglas@aol.com