On Thursday, October 6, 2022, the Caribbean Federation of Police Welfare Associations (CFPWA) released a press statement expressing our concerns about the attacks on police officers across the region whilst performing their lawful duties. We have since learnt that two (2) more police officers were killed, a police officer’s car was firebombed, and most recently another police officer shot.
It appears that the attacks on and the killing of police officers have been normalized instead of being viewed as an attack on the state. We note with great disappointment that very few voices have come out to condemn these acts against our members, yet many will come out promptly in defence of criminals. A police officer has a family too. We want to ask, where is the public outrage or outcry when a police officer is attacked or killed?
The CFPWA wants to condemn these attacks and killings of our police officers across the region and calls harsher penalties to be applied to those who attack police officers. We stand firmly behind the calls for the death penalty to be applied to anyone found guilty of killing a police officer. We urge the countries with the death penalty on the books to use it; hang them. They need to be put to the gallows in front of their families and friends. Criminals must understand that their actions have consequences.
It must be made unequivocally clear to criminals that when you take the life of an agent of the state, you have given up your right to life when you are found guilty in a court of law.
We want to urge legislators around the region to make the necessary amendments to reflect harsher penalties for people who attack agents of the state, those people who have been entrusted to preserve and maintain law and order.
CFPWA, be careful what you ask for, let your focus be on the exportation and use of illegal firearms throughout the region; you may be surprised who is facilitating the importation/exportation and use of those illicit/illegal weapons, stop giving firearm licenses to those criminals especially those in high places.
When the CFPWA condemns and stops police brutality and violence against the civilian population, attacks against the police will greatly diminish. Violence begets violence.
Reign in the rogue police officers, train the officers in de-escalation techniques, accentuate professionalism in the organisation, put emphasis on community policing. These should drastically reduce crime against the police.
Respect is earned not given because you wear the police uniform.
Concentrate on reducing police brutbrutality and there will be less attacks on the police.
Central America and the Caribbean have become the most murderous regions in the world. Poverty, mountainous unemployment, corruption, parental indifference, gang warfare, trafficking of illicit drugs, a profound sense of hopelessness, all have heavily contributed to this stratospheric high level of criminality.
The solutions to this perennial problem of bloodshed, blatant robberies and acts of lawlessness are not simple. It’s therefore imperative that the current governments be inclusive and bring the whole of society together to mitigate this mindless carnage.
CFPWA to think about your own alone being gunned down is rather selfish. Many other families have to grieve the demise of loved ones from these senseless murders. Think about these other families too.
Already we see police around the world acting like they are gods with power of life and death. There are many instances of police brutality and the taking of life by police and they connive and scheme to hide the truth, taking a long time for the matters to be brought to court. The CFPWA doesn’t seem to have a problem with the fact that justice delayed is justice denied. They want anyone found guilty of harming an official of the state to lose control of their lives but what about when the shoe is on the other foot. The police are not more important than doctors, teachers and others who serve the state, but it’s their inflated egos and arrogance which is why the public doesn’t seem to stand up for them. Let them look in the mirror and realize that they are not more important than other servants of the state but are themselves servants of the citizenry and act as such. They almost always seem to talk down to citizens. Let them learn from the British police.
How about police officer that ‘attack’ and even kill innocent civilians. Skerrits militia made their bed, now let them sleep in it. No sympathy from me!
A well-trained, fully resourced, professional police force is most integral to good governance. Therefore, it is imperative that citizens give the police their fullest corporation for them to carry out their duties most efficiently and effectively.
Having said that, the police force has an obligation to be apolitical, impartial, strictly objective and professional to earn the respect and partnership of the public.
It would be remiss of me if I don’t comment on the statement about the death penalty for anyone who kills a police officer as posited by the CFPWA. My question is this: What should happen to a police officer who murders a civilian in the custody of the police? Many innocent civilians have been brutalised, maimed and killed in the custody of law enforcement. What about that, CFPWA?
I have never heard not even a murmur of outrage when anyone dies at the hands of the police. We must always be fair and stop the hypocricy. Respect begets Respect.