JAMAICA’S KILLER COPS
REPORTER: Ginny Stein
ANGELA GORDON, KENRICK JACK'S MOTHER, (Translation): We're going to lay you down now, finally.
A mother is saying her last goodbyes to her son.
MAN, (Translation): Kenrick is not a bad man. And what did they do? Mashed up his head. Mash up the whole of my child's head...
Kenrick Jacks was shot dead on December 26.
ANGELA GORDON, (Translation): Let Kenrick's example show to each and every youth that they may learn from this mistake. Put it down.
Kenrick and his 18-year-old friend, Venroy McDermott, died in a hail of bullets fired by their own country's security forces, the police and the army. As Kenrick's coffin is being loaded for the journey to church, a single gunshot is fired - a farewell salute in defiance of those who killed him. At least every other day in Kingston, police shoot someone dead.
DR CAROLINE GOMES, JAMAICANS FOR JUSTICE: That is how police operate.
Dr Caroline Gomes is the executive director of Jamaicans for Justice.
DR CAROLINE GOMES: We have cases in our files - 14-year-old Lance Lab who was shot eating a piece of cornbread - at the autopsy, he was still clutching the cornbread in his hand. We have Grannie Lian, five years old, shot by a policeman who was running down a man who supposedly had a spliff, a ganja spliff, and he was running after him firing when he was in her yard and he blows her head away.
In Jamaica's capital, Kingston, to be young, male, black and poor is an extremely dangerous combination. On one side, are the armed gangs which control the streets and on the other, the island nation's lethal security forces. Kingston has a long history of violence and crime but when in the '70s and '80s, rival politicians, looking for extra votes, supplied arms to the street gangs, the conflict took an ugly turn.
In the past decade, more than 14,000 people have been murdered in Jamaica. The vast majority gang related - pushing this island nation up to number three for 'per capita' murders in the world rankings.
DR CAROLINE GOMES: There is a recent strategic review that says that the police are involved in murder for higher corruption - selling guns, drug running, you know, it is not say that it is the entire police force - it never is - but the fact of the matter is that the ones in the police force, who are trying to do a good job, are allowing this to continue by their silence and by their complicity.
While the violence is worse in poorer communities, it's not confined to them. Across the capital, Kingston, in a more affluent area, the Wray family is also seeking answers.
HERMAN WRAY, FABIAN WRAY’S FATHER: When I heard Fabien got shot, I never dreamed it was the police. I thought that it might be crossfire from somebody, and he got hit. When I heard it was police, I said "Why?" How could the police have shot Fabien? And when I heard the circumstances I said, "Why, I used to hear and I used to see it, things happen, and I have my doubts, but now it is on my doorstep."
This spot marks where 25-year-old Fabian Wray was shot dead in the middle of the day by two policemen as he was walking to his sister's house to watch football.
MAN 2, (Translation): After they shot him, they tried to put him in the boot. He wasn't dead yet. They didn't have enough time to put him in the boot or he was too tall. So they put him back down and shot him again. And then opened the rear door to pull him in, then drove past his house, which is where he'd been going. They drove past it, then went off with him.
HERMAN WRAY: I cry night and day. I had a nervous breakdown because he was my last son. Out of nine kids, he is the last son. And he's the first one that died.
But it's not just on the street that the police are considered lethal and corrupt. There's recognition of that fact within the highest levels of the force.
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER MARK SHIELDS, JAMAICA CONSTABULARY FORCE: It is a seriously significant problem that we have police officers who are basically criminals and prepared to conduct criminal acts and corrupt acts for their own means. And that's just judging by the investigations I've conducted.
Former Scotland Yard policeman Mark Shields was brought in four years ago to tackle the country's gang violence problems and help clean up the force.
REPORTER: How big a threat are the bad cops to the system right now?
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER MARK SHIELDS: It is an enormous threat because the bad cops, however few or many there are, undermine everything that the rest of us are trying to do. And we have to live with that every single day because we may take 10 steps forward of good policing, we may take 10 steps forward in terms of improving trust and confidence with the community, and then something happens and we're back to square one. That's the constant problem - it's a struggle between good and bad.
It's the day after Kenrick Jack's funeral and his parents are taking me on the short walk to where he was killed.
ANGELA GORDON, (Translation): Right here, at this spot, this is where he died - right here. They finished two clips. And then they fired the next clip and a couple of shots came out of it and hit two little boys, right here. My son gets the most and when I saw him his stomach was all shot up. His legs were all shot up. To show you how wicked they were the soldier used his foot on his throat and fired shots into his stomach and his head... to kill him, to make sure he was dead.
Vehicles up and down this street bear testament to the firepower unleashed that night. These photos were taken after the young men were shot.
MAN (Translation): They fired shots over people's heads so they'd leave before they did the murder. They had no need to hurt the youths. They'd just come out to kill somebody.
But not everyone fled. This man, we'll call 'Rico' couldn't run, he was too close - but just out of sight. He feared he'd become the third victim if he showed himself.
REPORTER: Did you hear what police said to them? Did you hear what they said to the police?
'RICO' (Translation): The police said nothing to the youths. They just come up and shone a light on them. As they turned around, that's when they were shot.
The official police record of the shooting states –
“The patrol team accosted two (2) men along St Patrick Road who they saw acting suspiciously. On seeing the patrol team, one of the men pulled a firearm and pointed it in the direction of the patrol team. The soldier then took evasive action and opened gunfire, hitting both men who fell to the ground.”
Rico confirms the younger man, who was with Kenrick Jacks, had a gun. But he says it was never pointed at police.
REPORTER: Why do you think they shot them?
'RICO' (Translation): They saw them with a gun while on patrol.
REPORTER: Did you see a gun? Did they have a gun?
'RICO' (Translation): Yeah, they had one gun.
REPORTER: Did they point it at police?
'RICO' (Translation): No, he had it beside his leg. He didn't fire it.
REPORTER: So he had the gun pointed down?
'RICO' (Translation): Down at the ground.
Kenrick's parents believe the island's security forces are a law onto themselves.
SANDFORD HAMILTON, KENRICK JACK'S FATHER (Translation): Many times, a policeman or a soldier will shoot a youth... 16 or 17 shots. That is total murder. That couldn't be a law in Jamaica. Even a policeman told me. If I shot a policeman dead, he'd never be shot 17 times.
ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OWEN ELLINGTON, JAMAICA CONSTABULARY FORCE: We police are not in the habit of shooting persons dozens of times. You shoot in self-defence and once you have shot someone, sufficient to stop the individual from posing an immediate threat to you, then your next obligation is to ensure that the person is rushed to a place where he can get medical attention.
Mark Shields is less defensive of Jamaica's police
MARK SHIELDS: I have acknowledged that there are cases that are very suspicious in terms of fatal shootings, there are others, because we have a country which is full of ruthless gunmen, that are quite legitimate in terms of the people here, gunmen are prepared to take on the police.
ANGELA GORDON, (Translation): A cigarette for me and you. My last cigarette.
SANDFORD HAMILTON, (Translation): Here's a spliff for you, young friend.
ANGELA GORDON, (Translation): My last cigarette, until we meet again.
SANDFORD HAMILTON: Give thanks, go and rest and be comforted.
With two senior policemen having two versions of how Jamaica's police force behave it's no wonder the family of Kenrick Jacks have a clear sense more trouble is on the way.
ANGELA GORDON, (Translation): And the same time, after they killed my son, they came here and asked for the rest of my children. So, I would like to ask them now why they want my other children.
She knows speaking out is a risk, but it is all she can do for her son, as she holds out no hope his death will be investigated.
ANGELA GORDON, (Translation): Right now, the way my son died, it doesn't encourage me, really, to talk to the police. They should do that when my son died. and they didn't do that.
It doesn't take long on the streets of Kingston to see how the police operate.
REPORTER: What... Sorry, Angela, tell me what's happening?
MAN'S VOICE: They are searching the youth to lock them up.
ANGELA GORDON, (Translation): Hope they don't kick my kids. If nobody was here, they would shoot them.
The police claim to find some weed, or marijuana, at this roadside stall and two men are arrested.
GEORGE: Where am I going?
POLICEMAN 1: Get on the vehicle, youth.
GEORGE: I don't have weed.
POLICEMAN: Get in the vehicle. Come around that side and get him.
SOLDIER: Up on the vehicle.
VOICE IN THE CROWD: He doesn't sell it.
POLICEMAN: Come around that side. I don't have to show them anything. When they got to the courthouse... Sit down there.
WOMAN, (Translation): What do they find? They didn't find anything at all. That's how they are.
While the two men are being loaded onto the truck, fearful of what's to come, a soldier warns Angela that she is now a marked woman. She's angry.
ANGELA GORDON, (Translation): When the soldier said that, that means when they see me they could shoot me. He cursed me, so that means my life's in jeopardy now. Because they are wrong. What they have done is wrong. Because we're poor people, they treat us like dogs.
Police know there was at least one remaining witness to the fatal shooting of Angela's son. And the locals here fear that the police think the witness may be one of these young men.
VOICES IN THE CROWD: Don't kill them! Don't go killing them now! Because you're killers! They're murderers. Another one's going to happen.
'George' was lucky and is granted bail after being charged with possessing marijuana.
GEORGE, (Translation): No, why did they pick on me? They say it's my stall. They said I was dealing ganja at my stall, which I never did. That's why they picked on me.
On the street here, there is anger but also an acceptance of the way police operate - planting evidence, from marijuana to guns.
GEORGE, (Translation): Well, the police are drastic, they are rough. They deal with us as if we were in Iraq. They have no right to treat us like this. It's because we're from the ghetto. That's why they treat us like this.
REPORTER: They behave like that because it's the ghetto?
GEORGE, (Translation): Because it's the ghetto. They treat uptown people better. Most of them think being poor is a crime. So they treat us like dogs.
In addition to the police killings, nearly as many people have been murdered in the past two years as in the 40 years of conflict in Northern Ireland. Scabby Dread has family in the two main rival gangs that control the city's downtown district. He's taking me through the buffer zone. I can walk freely here, only because I am with him. But it's not that long ago, that no-one could walk here. This was once the front-line.
SCABBY DREAD, (Translation): You couldn't stand up, you've got to run across, or clear the street, keep it empty. Because of stray bullets. But everything's calmed down now. We live as one, and loving.
While there may be new respect for old rivals - that does not extend to the police force.
SCABBY DREAD, (Translation): The police, they don't make things better, they make it worse. They treat you any way they want. They beat you up, haul you off to jail... mash up your house, mash up your place, treat you like a criminal. Because you're poor and don't live in Beverly Hills, you live in the ghetto, in the area, so they try to keep you down. They don't want to see you come up.
OWEN ELLINGTON: Many criminals in Jamaica do not hesitate to shoot at the police and they do not hesitate to pump dozens of bullets into their victims. In all of the instances, save and except a very few, which are investigated, discovered and prosecuted. The shootings committed by the police are done in circumstances that are justifiable and necessary.
But the list of accusations against the police force is so long and so serious that calls have been made for it to be disbanded.
DR CAROLINE GOMES: I mean we are on record as saying they should just disband the force and obviously not tomorrow, because you need a police force, but you set out a timeline which the Jamaica constabulary force, which has lost the trust of the people.
REPORTER: There have been calls for the police force to be disbanded.
MARK SHIELDS: That's one option and there are times when I can have some sympathy with that, but the fact is we still have to police the country. So, if on the 31 March we disband the JCF, what do we replace it with? How do we go about that process? It is a very radical step and at times, I can see some as I say I have some sympathy for it. I think that reform must start from within, though.
While police, good and bad, are on the front-line, it's the island's politicians who also hold sway over the gangs that rule the streets.
OMAR DAVIES, FORMER FINANCE MINISTER: Understanding the rules of engagement...
Omar Davies, is Jamaica's former finance minister. He acknowledges politicians were responsible for arming the gangs but says that was the past.
OMAR DAVIES: No question that there was an extended period in which there was political involvement, to use a neutral term, for in terms of supporting gangs, etcetera, who then would defend political turf, for example. That period has passed for a variety of reasons. One, some of the main protagonists - politicians - have moved on. Two, is that you're mistaken if you believe you can arm someone for political reasons and constrain or restrict them to use the arms for those reasons.
He may not arm them, but Omar Davies does still support at least one gang. In his electorate is the clubhouse of the 'Black Roses' - a gang he openly admits financing. He pays them to keep the streets clean of rubbish.
OMAR DAVIES: To give someone who is a community leader, a former gang leader, to give them assignments, it means that you're supporting criminality. But at the same time, not just the Jamaica Government but there are international organisations, there's a peace management and initiative, etcetera, but they will tell you that there's no way to bring about peace if you ignore those who can create war.
Engaging with the gangsters may be one option but with the high murder rate and police accused of extra-judicial killings, there seems little chance that peace will come to this Caribbean capital any time soon.
MARK SHIELDS: We have some excellent police, some very professional officers, who are doing a really good job and they want, as most of Jamaica wants, a first-class police service. Unfortunately, there are many people within it who either don't want that or are part of the problem. We work for an organisation that is a police service but it's also, in parts, a criminal organisation in itself as well.
Reporter/Camera
GINNY STEIN
Researcher
VICTORIA STROBL
Fixer
COLIN SMIKLE
Editor
WAYNE LOVE
Producer
ASHLEY SMITH
Translations/Subtitling
ERROL RENAUD
STANLEY STEER
Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN