EDITORIAL - When the police undermine public confidence

The man who this newspaper has chosen to call Canaan Israel in an effort to protect his identity and safety has every right to feel let down by the system.

Except that to say 'system' is to suggest some amorphous entity and remove responsibility from real people - the police officers Canaan Israel asked for help, the officials at the witness protection unit at the national security ministry whose sleepy response served to compromise his safety and confidence in the programme. But for the intervention of this newspaper, Canaan Israel might still have been lingering, and who knows what might have been his fate.

Canaan Israel lived in Clarendon, one of Jamaica's parishes with a high level of homicide and one of deep concern to the constabulary. Last month, Canaan Israel witnessed one of those murders. As a decent, law-abiding citizen, of the kind that the police like to encourage, he reported the crime and later pointed out the alleged killer in an identification parade. That person is now in lock-up.

nasty characterisation

But according to Canaan Israel, friends of the alleged murderer have labelled him 'informer', which is often a nasty characterisation in Jamaica, and have threatened him with death.

Canaan Israel reported the matter to the police in May Pen, Clarendon, asking for their protection. He completed an application for the Government's witness protection programme, but more than a month later, Canaan Israel still had heard nothing of his case. He went into hiding, leaving his family behind. But he is, understandably, a very worried man.

The Clarendon police confirmed Canaan Israel's case and what, to us, was an inordinate delay on the part of the authorities in assessing his security threat and moving him and his family into the protection programme.

Said a spokesman for the Clarendon police: "... There are certain procedures that it (application for witness protection) has to go through ... and if the matter is being dealt with, all he will have to do is wait until approval is given."

By which time, of course, Canaan Israel could have been dead.

potential dangers

This seemingly blasé response from an officer, who ought to be aware of the potential dangers to witnesses to crime in Jamaica, flies in the face of what Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green suggested was a robust scheme that is capable of arriving at a decision "within a day or two", depending on the level of risk.

That the police chose to place Canaan Israel in a place of safety pending the outcome of the assessment of his case, suggests that they believe he has genuine concerns and made out a case of a risk.

It is sad, though, that it took the intervention of the Gleaner to galvanise the police and the security ministry into action. It is a fact that potential witnesses to crime are sometimes killed in Jamaica and that the stigma against so-called informers often makes people wary of telling the police what they know.

When people like Canaan Israel do the right thing, face threats and then have to contend with bureaucratic laggards, it destroys trust in the processes and undermines the support structures the police need to fight crime.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.