Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 Source: Jamaica Gleaner, The (Jamaica) Copyright: 2005 The Gleaner Company Limited Contact: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/feedback.html Website: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/493 Author: A Clean Cop Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.) I KNOW ABOUT CORRUPTION IN THE FORCE The Editor, Sir: Kindly grant me space in your newspaper to say what I know about corruption in the police force. I have been a cop for 36 years and I am not a corrupt cop. However, from experience I know many cops are corrupt in one way or the other. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, some are at 1, some 3, some 7 and some 9 on the corruption scale. However, corruption is nothing new in the Jamaica Constabulary Force. As far as I know, corruption has been a part of the operation of the Constabulary at all levels and in many things from promotion to transfers. Persons due promotion are bypassed for favourites who are corrupt. Some corrupt persons are now out of the force but that does not matter because their bank books are fat and their yearly earnings are in the millions. NO ACTION TAKEN I remember in 1980 when I was in charge of a certain station in Portland. While there I received certain information that one of my members of staff was about to remove some ganja from a boat. I informed my seniors and, after seeing no action taken, I called the Narcotics Section and spoke to the officer in charge and told him about the date and time of this movement. I waited the whole night for them to arrive as I could not trust anyone else with the information; no one came to see me. The following day I heard that the drugs were removed and that present were policemen and men dressed in soldier uniforms. I felt utterly hopeless, helpless and confused. Since that I have not said anything to anyone because I am afraid. I did not know who was who; such is the nature of the corruption in the police force. I do not know how the Commissioner of Police is going to clear the force because he is not going to get any support from anyone within the force. However from the Commissioner's revelation it is clear that he has an idea who they are. He cannot call their names without evidence because they would take him to court and the Commissioner would have to pay millions of dollars. COMING FROM A CORRUPT ENVIRONMENT The recruits in the police force are coming from a corrupt environment and many have calculated their maximum salary for the police for the next 20 years at the present and future assumed levels and cannot see any light and service of others is not their choice. I attended the University of the West Indies at a late stage. Some of my colleagues ridiculed me as a fool and said they are not looking education; it is money that they are seeking and that 'education cannot go to the supermarket'. The job of the Commissioner is to weed out corruption but that is widespread and the deal may never be achieved. In the meantime, the general public suffers because they do not know which cop is corrupt or which is clean. In their minds they are wondering, "Is this a corrupt cop?". I suggest that the commissioner publish the names of all the clean cops. In doing so the general public will feel a bit more easy. I am, etc., A CLEAN COP - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin