Are we to put up with bad-behaving police officers?
This is an open letter to the Office of the Commissioner of Police, Jamaica and the head of traffic.
AN INCIDENT occured on Monday, January 27, 2014 at 8:20 a.m. I was in a motor car in the vicinity of the Half- Way Tree Transport Centre conversing with the driver when a policeman approached the vehicle which was in traffic obeying the red light. Now this corporal stretched his hand into the car, holding on to the driver’s car key.
When the driver realised, he asked the corporal not to do this, and his response was, “Me a take weh yuh car!” I was so shocked. He asked the driver to come “out a de car” while he forcibly tried to remove the key from the ignition.
When the cop realised that wasn’t working, he told the driver to put the car in park. The cop then pushed his head through the window and put the car in park. That was when we recognised that the corporal had broken the car key.
When the driver warned the cop that he was responsible, he started calling for backup from other policemen. He told us to come out of the vehicle, which I found weird, because we were in the second lane to the left of the transport centre, with other vehicles driving past us, and exiting wasn’t safe.
THREE-WEEK CONFISCATION
The offensive policeman then proceeded to say that he called the Transport Authority to seize this car because “him (driver) nah get it back till after three weeks”. He then entered the man’s car and drove it to where the Duhaney Park buses parked.
My question is this: Is this how policemen behave? Can a cop just stretch his hand into your car and take your key? Can he threaten to take your vehicle without any cause and proof? He claimed the driver was operating an illegal service, and when we asked what proof he had, his answer was, “Me know.”
Am I then to say that every white plate car in this country is providing an illegal service? Am I to then conclude that when you have your car, you alone should drive in it, lest you be alleged to be providing an illegal service?
With each passing day, I realise that this country is not for us, poor citizens. This ain’t a democratic country. We have no rights.
The Police High Command needs to hit the road and observe the injustice that average Jamaican citizens face every day. If I had a choice, I would leave this country with my family and never come back. I am getting to despise my country.