“Hypocritical” is how retired Senior Superintendent of Police Reneto Adams refers to the United States after learning that its State Department underscored a concern that some members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) could be involved in human trafficking in its 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Adams expressed disappointment at the pronouncement, which said human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Jamaica, and victims from Jamaica abroad.

“The United States is so hypocritical. Everybody is involved in corruption. A nuh only Jamaican police alone. Fi dem police too. Our police work in conjunction with them. One hand cyaa clap. Many of the countries in the Caribbean and Central and South America… their policemen are involved in a lot of things. They’re trafficking the same way. Trafficking drugs… human trafficking. And they know that too. I don’t know why they want to name out Jamaica, specifically,” Adams contended.

“You think me coulda take up one million pound of ganja, for want of a better observation, and just send it straight to America and somebody is not there already prepared to take it? Then how is it going to reach? That country is so hypocritical when it comes to certain things. We learn from them! We learn corruption from them!” Adams continued.

The report ranks Jamaica in Tier 2, indicating that the Jamaican Government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so.

“Sex trafficking of Jamaican women and children, including boys, reportedly occurs on streets and in nightclubs, bars, massage parlours, hotels, and private homes, including in resort towns,” said the US State Department.

But this isn’t Adams’ first time being at odds with the State Department. In December 2020, he was barred from entering the US for what the State Department said was his “involvement in gross violations in human rights in Jamaica”.

That came in response to the May 2003 killing of four people in Kraal, Clarendon, in which Adams and fellow officers Devon Bernard, Patrick Coke, Shayne Lyons, Leford Gordon, and Roderick Collier were involved.

Adams along with the five men, who were also banned, were charged with murder. However, they were acquitted in December 2005.

Further, Adams told the Sunday Observer that the department’s revelation isn’t likely to affect the image of the JCF. It wouldn’t have come as a surprise, he said.

“The people are already convinced that we have a corrupt police force here. A corrupt police force in the Caribbean, a corrupt police force in Central America, and a corrupt police force in South America. I’m not sure that negative press is affecting any police force over the world. Nothing is alarming to the people anymore. They are already convinced that has been happening for years and people in authority and the people in leadership in these countries are not investigating these people and having them sent to prison.

“The people on the street know more than anybody else. It’s the people on the streets that these corrupt cops collaborate with and conspire with to commit criminal activities. So they know of it. And it’s not a one case or a two case. There are many cases. I don’t know if it still exists, but in a particular time, it was almost a daily occurrence.”

But he was quick to defend the honour of the “good cops”.

“As far as I know, a large percentage of the force is not involved in that. But you know that no matter how small the percentage is, the percentage that is involved can make it appear as if the whole force is corrupt.”

In the same breath, the ex-cop described the force as diminished, which makes it unable to contend with the current crime situation across the island.

“A man doesn’t think anymore when he’s committing murder; it’s cultural, like a every day thing too him. I’m not lambasting the police force. I’m only saying the police force has been watered down wilfully,” he said categorically. “The discipline is watered down, the rules and regulations are altered and watered down, so you don’t have the strict, supervisory management of our police men and women anymore.”

He added: “And it’s not only the police force. Many parts of the civil service is more corrupt that the police force. Many parts of it. I can name them. The people who are put in place and are paid large sums of money to see to it that these people are investigated and arrested, many of them join in, too, instead of seeing that these people are properly dealt with.”

Former Minister of National Security KD Knight conceded to the idea that local police officers are viewed in a negative light for the most part.

“There are members of the society who view the police as an organisation that has, perhaps, some corrupt members. And that is a view that is corroborated by charges that have been referred from time to time against police personnel for corrupt behaviour,” Knight told the Sunday Observer.

Knight, who served as minister of national security and justice for 12 years – 1989 to 2001 – under the then People’s National Party Government, added that he had to deal with the same issue during his tenure.

“Oh yes!” he exclaimed. “I had to deal with it. That’s one of the reasons why we had the Police Public Complaints Authority, to have some independent investigation of such types of allegations, and that’s why they were brought under the statute which requires a report on income and so on.”

The authority is an independent, non-police agency, with the power to investigate allegations of misconduct filed by members of the public against members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and its auxiliaries. Investigations are conducted in an impartial and objective fashion by an investigative staff which is made up solely of civilian employees.

He said maintaining accountability is a step in the right direction.

“We have to ensure that complaints are properly investigated and those who have transgressed are held accountable for their transgressions. I think also that there needs to be greater supervision when the police are operating on the streets.”

However, he steered clear of Adams’ comments about a watered down police force.

“I can’t comment on that because I haven’t followed that aspect at all. But what I do know is that we have gone to great lengths to improve the training,” Knight ended.