Do not resist arrest
THE laws that allow for citizens to be arrested by the police are enacted in the Houses of Parliament. That is the same one that is filled with men and women elected by the citizens of our country.
This Parliament has the power to change, adjust, and even remove laws that it believes are unjust or unnecessary, or just because they don’t like them. So if you have a problem with the police having the power of arrest then take it up with your parliamentarian and not the inadequately compensated police personnel.
I am going to give you a few reasons why you shouldn’t resist arrest or interfere with the police making an arrest. Firstly, it is illegal to resist arrest. The offence you are being detained for may never even result in you being charged, possibly because you’re not a criminal, you’re probably just a darn hooligan.
Additionally, when you resist you are committing the offence of resisting arrest. This is tried in a court manned by three justices of the peace. The possibility of conviction is high. The fine, until recently, was rubbish. It has teeth now. However, what matters is that you’re going to have a record. So you will never be able to join the police force or the army. You won’t be able to hold certain government jobs. Securing any corporate job in the private sector, from cleaner to CEO, requires a background check so that’s gone as well.
If you are saying, “Who cares?” let me just expand. After a resisting arrest conviction you can never be the holder of a licensed firearm. You will have difficulty emigrating if filed for. Are you worried yet?
Is all of this worth the few moments of bravado you will get from the video? Then there is the issue of your safety. The police often carry rifles. If they are arresting you they are allowed to use whatever tool is available to grab, and to punch — which will be with only one hand if they are carrying a rifle. There really isn’t much on them to protect them in a fight. The weapon is not designed for hand-to-hand combat, that’s why it’s not affixed to a bayonet anymore. That weapon is capable of killing.
Only a cop who doesn’t know better goes into a fist fight with a person he is arresting when he has a machine gun in his hand. He can use it on you if he is under attack by you. To be clear, I do mean he can shoot you. The standard for use of deadly force is that you are “in fear of loss of your life or serious injury”, or loss of life, or serious injury to a member of the public.
So you don’t think that fighting an officer with a machine gun hanging around his neck could constitute a threat to the officer’s safety? Well, it can. Also, if he believes that he is in danger he can shoot you with that rifle.
Just so you know, a 5.56 round tumbles once it makes contact with your body, so the exit hole is considerably larger than the entry. You will likely die or lose a limb. So, is it worth it?
Let’s talk about police with handguns. Some handguns are carried in retention holsters, some aren’t. Many aren’t. The policeman is in danger of losing his weapon, and of it being used on him. When you opt to fight him, from a tactical standpoint he is within his legal rights to use the handgun on you.
There is case history. This is how policeman Leighton Hanson lost his life on Constant Spring Road in St Andrew while a man was resisting arrest in 2017. The policeman was killed with his own gun.
Then there is the possibility of the loss of life of innocent bystanders when men with guns come under attack by a hooligan or hooligans. I recall a baby being killed in Admiral Town in Kingston in the early 90s because a woman decided to fight with a policeman over a minor issue. Was her resistance really worth it? Such needless resistance at home and abroad annoys me. If Jamaican human rights groups or Black Lives Matter really cared about injury to innocent people they would preach a policy of non-resistance.
The resistance is dangerous and the arrests are legal. When it goes badly you want to blame the police when the resistance is what caused the situation to escalate. So let’s understand what is acceptable and legal for the police when they are making an arrest.
If the person resists you can go to “gas”, commonly called Mace. This tends to hurt nearby persons and the officers themselves. You can use your baton to get compliance with your instructions but it has a whole Rodney King look to it when you are beating someone with a baton to convince them to enter a vehicle.
So often you see the police operating singularly when they are effecting the arrest and the other is standing off. That’s because that police likely has the rifle that renders him impotent to give any assistance with the arrest, so he stands off and assists as best he can with the crowd.
The problem is that it’s not protocol for one person to arrest a suspect who is resisting, so it looks ugly and unprofessional — but there really isn’t any other option. This is not a movie. Take it from me; if we are going to get forced compliance from a resisting suspect by ourselves it’s going to look like a beat down.
We often criticise the police who are in these conflicts and say that they need training. That’s not it. I have a sixth-degree black belt in martial arts and I have taught police in various training programmes. I would look no different if I were effecting an arrest on someone who was resisting and I had a loaded gun on my waist or a rifle in my hand.
If you are trying to handcuff a resisting man — placing his hands behind him and getting him to sit in a car — you need numbers or you need to use your baton.
You can use a taser, but Jamaican police aren’t issued any. You can use gas. None of them look pretty. None will look like a movie.
Feedback: drjasonamckay@gmail.com