THREE senior members of the clergy say the conviction of Pastor Merrick ‘Al’ Miller has not only made them more cautious in assisting to have wanted persons turning themselves in to the police, they now want guidelines from the Ministry of National security on how to handle such situations.

Miller was last Friday found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice following his arrest in 2010 after then fugitive Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke was in his vehicle when he was stopped by the police on the Mandela Highway in St Catherine. Coke, who was wanted in the United States to face drug and gunrunning charges, later waived his hight to an extradition hearing and was sent to the US where he is now serving prison time.

The Rev Miller, who said he was transporting Coke to the United States Embassy to surrender, is to be sentenced on September 15.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds, any citizen can turn over a criminal to the police as there is nothing that specifically requires a minister of religion to carry out that duty.

“There are no written guidelines; any citizen can do it; if somebody says ‘I think I may be wanted’, you can always call the police and say, ‘this man is wanted and I’m taking him to you’, but we know that citizens sometimes feel comfortable relating to their pastors,” Hinds told the

Jamaica Observer in a telephone interview. He added that any citizen can turn up to the police, as all have the same standing in the eyes of the law.

However, the religious leaders said that often pastors more than anybody else are called to assist when accused persons want to turn themselves in to the police.

“I’ve spoken on this matter before and I’m calling on the authorities to work with the churches because, of course, there are many times I have heard the minister of security ask that if persons need help in coming to the station they should go the pastor, if they have guns they should take it to the pastor; now what are the guidelines you give us?” Bishop Rowan Edwards of the Spanish Town Ministers Fraternity told the

Jamaica Observer following Tuesday’s launch of the “Jamaica Pray” initiative in Kingston.

Edwards questioned the guidelines to be used when handling such situations as he said there is “nothing in the book” that explicitly states what to do. He added that there needs to be a public discussion and an agreement of what should be done by religious leaders.

“Certainly, I’m very cautious as to how I approach this, as if somebody comes to me saying they want to go in I [will be] very cautious now as to how I will approach [it] because I don’t want to be in problems with the law,” Edwards stated.

For president of the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance and chairman of the Portmore Ministers Fraternal, Bishop Dr Alvin Bailey, Miller’s situation is instructive and so for him there should also be proper procedures put in place by the security ministry in ensuring that if other ministers are called to do the same they can do so without being implicated.

“First of all, I’m not daunted or discouraged by the outcome of the court… because I have a responsibility under God and also the responsibility as a minister in this nation to do everything in my powers to establish peace and to avert anything that is not in the best interest of humanity or against scripture and so on,” Bailey stated.

“So if I’m called upon to weigh the process of someone being brought to justice, I would within the best of my knowledge do the same, as to try to get the person to the authorities without in fact implicating myself,” he continued.

Bailey stated that he personally has a good relationship with the police and if called upon for help by a criminal, he would first find out the procedure from the police as his objective would be to protect himself as well as the person from harm. He stated that he would have his conditions in that the police must be able to guarantee this protection and if it cannot be guaranteed, he doesn’t think he’d be willing to do it.

Bishop Dr Delford Davis of Power of Faith Ministry International said that while he has never faced a situation like Miller’s, he has had instances where he had to deal with lawbreakers.

“I turned a couple in to the police; what I did is consulted with the police department, let them know where I’m at, what’s happening and of course it was a smooth transition over to the police,” Davis explained.

— Javene Skyers