When I was a competition fighter I primarily competed in the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) and the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) competitions.

The rules, although they differ, are specific both in equipment usage and safety guidelines.

One day I entered what I thought was an ITF tournament in New York. It was basically a street fighting tournament. The safety equipment was virtually non-existent and the contact was as you please.

I adapted as soon as I could but it wasn’t what I had trained for. I managed to win a bronze medal but my face never quite looked the same again.

The above narrative serves to demonstrate how someone competent, even powerful in one environment, can be less useful or even utterly useless in another.

Had the fighters in the noted tournament entered an ITF tournament they couldn’t win a medal. They wouldn’t even get on the mat because of the equipment and uniform violations, and that’s just the beginning.

The scoring and recording of points would be their next hurdle.

In the world of policing, the legal system and the criminal underworld, the same separation exists.

The most dramatic is the criminal and the judge who sentences him.

The criminal is usually a violent, young, brutal man. In his environment he is king. He has the power.

In court he is powerless and the judge, often a little lady or an older man, is the person with the power.

In the criminal’s world it is unlikely the judge could better him in combat, but in a court of law the judge is king or queen as the case may be.

The power game alters also in the street. The big bad don and his group of morons rule the streets of the unarmed because they are armed.

However, once they engage a trained, prepared police team they lose badly. That’s why it often appears like it’s not a battle. It’s the outcome of badly trained men with inadequate weaponry; they don’t fully understand engaging trained men with weapons they are very familiar with.

The penal system is in essence its own kingdom and the warders are the kings. Whether cops or criminals, wealthy or wanting, the warders are the kings in there.

I know you may say that the inmates have the numbers and therefore the power. Think again. Those warders have a system of shutdown and separate, and then they come in their numbers and will beat you within an inch of your life if you attack them. Trust me, they are the lion in that jungle.

So who are the real kings, where does real power lie?

In reality there are many kingdoms. The court, the streets, the prisons and in everyday society there exists this separation of powers.

The police undoubtedly run the streets (when they are there) but they don’t live in the garrison and unless it’s a Zone of Special Operation their presence is temporary.

Once they leave their power ends.

It is the criminals who rule because they are there with their guns all the time the cops are not.

The courts and the prisons are the most useful tools for shifting the power base, but they are often the end part of the criminal life cycle.

The group that controls the street most of the time is the group that is there most of the time and that is the criminal.

To alter that, the system has occupation powers at will – curfew powers on request and all-out state of emergency powers with the assistance of Parliament.

Ultimately it is through occupation that this shift of power will occur and it will be required for decades. This requires a Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Defence Force that have the capacity for occupation.

This won’t happen until there is a system that engages the thousands of honest, competent and motivated citizens and allows them to join an auxiliary of either the police or military.

I hope to be around long enough to live in a society where it is an expectation for all to serve in at least the armed forces’ auxiliary if not the regular forces, unless you don’t qualify because you are barred.

This hurdle could be based on past or likely criminal behaviour, association, lack of education, or physical impairments.

This requires persons to plan their lives around a period of training that turns you into a soldier or a cop and a future of giving up part of your long term future in service to your country.

Sweden, Brazil and several other countries have mandatory military service. I am only asking for non-mandatory reserve participation for all who desire and are competent.

Why, because true power in our streets rests in the hands of those who have the best arms, who have the numbers, but most importantly, who is present the most.

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