The most feared police force in the world between 1939 and 1945 was the Gestapo in Nazi Germany.

There are few people over 40 years old who do not know the name or the shame that this police force represents for the German citizen and the German identity.

What few know is that this unit was born out of the Prussian Police Force and was once, like ours, designed and intended to protect and serve.

This proud police force went from protector to persecutor in a relatively short period when it came under the control of Herman Goring, one of the pioneers of the Nazi movement in Germany and a part of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle.

What followed was a purge of the Jewish German citizen that went from requesting a list of all Jewish people to the eventual mass execution of almost an entire race of people who were residing in Germany.

They, of course, went from requesting the list of Jewish German citizens, to the curtailing of movement, to the banning of business activity, to revocation of citizenship, to forced deportation and then to relocation to death camps.

Those were baby steps with brutal consequences.

Our new use of the legal designation of a state of emergency in high crime zones of Jamaica puts the police force in a very peculiar position, where it can partner with the populace in the battle against gangs and organised crime, or on the counter, serve as a persecutor of all poor and vulnerable.

Special effort has to be made to ensure that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) adopts the former approach rather than the latter. Because, if the innocent citizen feels he/she is being trampled, bullied, or belittled, the use of this designation in this manner will never be allowed to happen again.

There is that human instinct that is also present in other mammals to bully or dominate when we are in a position to do so. This unkind characteristic to bully and belittle when we can is an almost natural human step once one’s human rights are suspended.

However, in this case, the removal of the rights that protect us is being enforced by a willing public who are tired of gangs, bloodshed, and subjugation.

They, like the Government and the Opposition, want change and are relying on the people’s police force and the people’s army to do their best to make it happen. Not beat them up!

There are also several other dynamics that speak to the likelihood that our public will accept this imposition on their rights.

Firstly, the public seem to really trust the current prime minister and the commissioner of police and seem to believe that their rights are safe in the hands of these men. As do I, do not assume that this confidence always exists. This is unique, odd even.

There were times when the public loved the commissioner of police but hated the prime minister, and vice-versa. But never have both been popular at the same time.

Usually, the Opposition treats the commissioner of police as a punching bag. But this time, not so with the major general. Even the Opposition believes he is really doing his best with a job that is asking him to do the impossible without too many options, and they actually trust that the leverage he has been given will not be used for political repression.

I think they feel similarly about the prime minister.

I agree some may not like his house, but even they seem to trust he is not planning any of the 70s or 80s tactics that a state of emergency could facilitate.

Therefore, the zones of special operations (ZOSO) approach needs to be adopted. ZOSO officers were actually trained for ZOSO. The training was focused on being polite, congenial, and non-confrontational. The vibe that law enforcement is here for you that branded ZOSO, needs to be the brand of the SOE.

Efforts need to be made to ensure that the business community is far less affected and the communities that will be the target for operations are approached with care and a tender touch.

There should be no mass arrests of poor young males just because they are poor, young, and male. We need intelligence-fuelled operations with surgical precision; and polite caring. Occupation must be the essence of the time spent in the hot zones.

As I have said before, ‘focus on saving lives’. Nothing else is quite as important. Build ‘Brand JCF’ as well, not ‘Brand I’m above you’.

This could be where we turn back the clock on so many of our negatives — the high homicide rate, the image of the JCF, the nepotism of politics and privilege, and of course, the Teflon image of the gangs.

This could also be the last time the country will trust our leaders to borrow our human rights.

So let us get it right.

Feedback: jasonamckay@gmail.com