Despite the assurances from the Prime Minister, Hon Bruce "Not in My Cabinet" Golding and the Police commissioner that persons will be allowed to move freely allbeit the extended state of emergency to July 22nd or thereabout and incorporating St. Catherine in the areas covered, reports of abuses and unjustified detentions of persons in particular LGBT individuals are on the rise. The nation is almost split 50/50 on this issue of maintaining a state of emergency mostly on political lines. The security forces' activities were supposedly designed to penetrate specific crime ridden areas nationally in due time but obviously as we have seen constant reports of abuses are coming from everywhere generally speaking even in so called upscale neighbourhoods where one of the three incidents I will highlight for this post occurred. There are others that I am not able to verify just now.
Several persons meanwhile have literally become couch potatoes staying indoors after arriving from work or play so as to avoid any eventuality of going on the road at night hours in particular in fear of a random search by police and soldiers with extenuating factors and many event planners gay and mainstream have been postponing, cancelling or moving their events to popular rural spots so as to continue business but Kingston patrons still second guess before venturing out.
So pronounced are some of the abuses that persons privacy have been violated with one case of the cops apologising to the individual who was so aggrieved when they invaded his home after jumping a wall with guns pointed at him by his laundry area.
It is clear that the security forces are not sure as to where to find illegal activities or where to start their investigations so batching all together and hoping to find something illegal is the practice aka net fishing and with the new powers given to the them they are clearly abusing it, human rights groups and legal minds say the security forces do not need such additional powers as it is, as they already have enormous powers of arrest, search and cordon under regular circumstances. The six crime bills were passed by the way with very little song and dance from the parliamentary oppostion as most of them were absent from the house on the day in question, so much for representation of people's rights.
Event 1: Early June around 8:30pm, lesbians and sibling harassed by copsA group of three lesbian friends accompanied by a cousin of one of the ladies were returning from a supermarket in uptown Kingston when they were stopped by a police/soldier team who had mounted a traffic stop to apparently search motor vehicles. The girls stopped in accordance to the signal of the officers and were asked to exit the car, so they did, however one of the officers who apparently saw one of the women who was described as butch by the women in speaking to me was harassed by him both verbally at first then he attempted to ruff her up after she refused to entertain his actions and shouts. He proceeded to call her the ugly names we know in the book dotted with expletives. This particular officer was
not wearing his numbered vest as he ought to have been, he was dressed in the typical blue denim and boots with his gun. The other ladies appealed for calm while the frightened young cousin sat in the vehicle watching this go down. After several exchanges and some clever display by the ladies of some knowledge of their rights the girls were eventually allowed to proceed. While the butch sister was calm it was clear to me the two other ladies were still shaken by this incident as they related it in person to me almost three weeks after the fact. The ladies also described that nearly every other vehicle on that stretch of road was stopped by the cops as the line of parked cars waiting to be attended to or searched was long. It was clear that other persons were also having difficulty with how the security team was handling their situations. They drove home as quickly as they could from the scene and have been very selective about the times of day they venture out now.
Event 2: June 30, around 2:00pm, Man harassed from public transportationA man making his way from Kingston to St. Catherine (the other parish that is under the state of emergency) who was on a bus was ruffed up and abused after another security stop was set up on the road in the vicinity of entering the town to which he was going. All the men on board the bus were searched as is typical and severely questioned with some of them being draped and abused if they didn't seem to be complying. This particular instant the man in question was searched and it was surmised that due to his soft spokeness he was gay. When he was asked where he was from he responded Kingston, the rude officers proceeded to say he was out of his jurisdiction and why was he in St. Catherine. They continued to harass him by which time he managed to make a call to me directly nervously asking what he should do. I told him to try to record or remember as best he could the officer's numbers who were engaged in the abuse. I gave him JFLAG's number as well by which time he called after we spoke. The cops asked him who he was calling he told them directly. The offending officer in an attempt to clearly stigmatise and embarrass the man tried to "loud up" his identity. He was however reprimanded by another fellow officer and reminded he could lose his job if he messed with gays. The other officer reportedly said "man yuh know a who him call? yuh nuh ramp wid dem deh people deh" The offending officer relunctantly walked away. (obviously JFLAG's name still has some resonance in averting police abuses) The man was however taken in remand non the less as the other officer explained it was standard procedure. The remanded man managed to recall his registration number. It was after that the police station's Superintendent had spoken to someone else that he was released. A clearly nervous Sup made sure that when the man was leaving the station he asked if he was ok and if he was harmed, clearly he wanted to secure himself I figure.
Event 3: Early June, Man harassed, insulted in upscale neighbourhood, then detainedAnother young man who resides alone in an upscale neighbourhood was harassed after several cops and soldiers with guns drawn came allegedly in search of the whereabouts of Christopher "Dudus" Coke they illegally jumped a fence adjoining the home, the frightened young man who was on the outside doing his laundry counted just about 15 police and soldiers in the yard and when he was escorted out to the police jeep to be taken away for questioning he saw another three army truck loads of soldiers and police as well. The intimidatory ordeal lasted for half an hour or so after the initial entry on to the property as the gate that was electronically operated was closed at the time.
While on the property they demanded he show them his living area and they questioned everything from his ownership of furniture to his holding of several visas and possession of a motor vehicle at his seemingly young age while going through his belongings. It was not until they came across his fashion design sketches that they relented somewhat and said they needed to take him in for questioning this despite his protests as he was not the individual they really wanted. They in fact wanted the owner of the house who when he arrived at the station learnt was already detained as well. The cops seized the young man's vehicle and several documents from the home and repeatedly questioned his sexuality all the way to the station after seeing non suggestive photos in the privacy of his bedroom of himself and male friends. All of this invasion of private property took place without a search warrant as under the state of emergency searches apparently can be conducted without such. His phone was not returned although they did apologise to the young man upon his departure from the station on the day after when he returned to collect his items.
Police state or what?So we are clearly tittering on a police state here under the present state of emergency and subsequent draconian crime bills which supposed to be temporary according to the government.
Elements within the security forces however see things differently as other unconfirmed cases suggest the kinds of responses used such as "police can do anything now so shut up" as was told to a group of men who were on their way to a party recently.
Given all the strides made however small they may be and specifically with police and lgbt relations we are right back where we were just some years ago of repeated reports of police abuse, harassment and profiling of persons just by their demeanor or aesthetics.
Alarmed? yes I am, Are you?
Judging also from the ever disturbing reports from the Tivoli incursion and the deaths associated with it, the slow pace of justice in as far as the mass post mortems and subsequent errors, the slow pace of the mini inquiries with the exclusion of the press from them, who are we as a marginalised group to get justice then?
Some things to think about.
Please decide what you need to do before hitting the street and look out for others.Peace and tolerance.
H
