Trigger-happy policemen?

THE IDEA that the country’s crime crisis gives them a licence to kill has apparently become part of the operating credo of the Police Service. Too many persons are being killed either in police custody or in dubious “shootouts” for us not to raise a serious alarm about the operating mentality among members of the service. The latest tragedy in this regard is the death of 18-year-old Sherman Monsegue of Carenage who was fatally shot during an exercise by officers of the Western Division Task Force at Pt Cumana on Wednesday afternoon. The account given by the police is that when they confronted Monsegue on the beach the teenager started shooting at them. We find this story difficult to believe, particularly in light of the angry reaction of Carenage residents and eyewitnesses who accused the police of shooting Monsegue “in cold blood.”

According to the victim’s grandfather Vernon Monsegue, the teenager was playing cards with his friend Kurt Holder when the police officers suddenly burst on the scene, running in a threatening manner towards the boys. Aware of the harassment of residents by the police, the youths ran into the nearby bushes where they were cornered. Several shots were heard and “minutes after, the police were seen dragging Sherman out by his feet with bullet wounds to his head.” Another resident said: “Sherman was a young boy who never had a run-in with the law. He was very naive. They had no right to kill him so. The police are trying to frame him by saying he had a gun. They lie, he had no gun.” The killing of this teenager, of course, cries out for an investigation, and the necessary thing is for us to call on Commissioner Paul to determine the truth about his death. But how often have we made such demands to no avail?

The horror about this situation is not only the lethal force which the police seem prepared to use against persons they may suspect to be involved in criminal activity but also the apparent disinclination of the authorities to thoroughly investigate these cases to ensure that policemen are not acting as judge, jury and executioner in the course of their duties. Because of this failure to act, officers may now come to believe that they can virtually get away with murder. Last January Kevin Cato died from police bullets at a Pier I fete. There has been no follow-up action by the authorities. In April, 41-year-old Galene Bonadie was killed by the police at Vegas, Morvant. The result? Silence. In June, we called for an investigation into the killing of  28-year-old Noel Stanley who was beaten to death while in police custody. To no avail. More recently, in August, we were alarmed by the death of 21-year-old Don King who was shot to death by the police during a fete at La Brea. Investigation? Apparently not.

More than two weeks ago we demanded a probe into the brutal battering of Ignatius “Shakes” Owen who died at the Golden Grove Prison infirmary two days after he was arrested by the police on a maintenance warrant. Inspite of the pious protestations by officials that there would be no cover up in the killing of “Shakes” we are yet to hear anything about the results of the investigation or any action being taken by the authorities to settle this scandalous episode. Our expectation is that this matter will also eventually fall by the wayside. The police have been invested with the power and authority to deal with the criminals who terrorise our society, but the officers must know how to use that power with discretion and restraint and a knowledge of the law. To allow them to do otherwise is creating a danger as grave as crime itself.