Still an emergency?

THE RECENT decision of the Opposition in the House of Parliament to withdraw its support for the three states of emergency (SOEs) has unsurprisingly become the centre of public attention and discourse. Dr Peter Phillips argued that the Opposition was at the outset in favour of the SOE, but was never in support of them being continued indefinitely through extensions. A recent poll conducted by Don Anderson indicates that the overwhelming majority of persons directly affected by the SOE are in favour of the extensions. The commonly expressed view is that it has effectively reduced crime and they feel safer with the increased police presence. So, is it enough that the SOE should be extended simply to comply with the wishes of the civilians most closely affected by them?

Declaration of a state of emergency is an exceptional recourse available under the Emergency Powers Act of 1939. The Act provides, under a SOE, for the creation of regulations as appear necessary for ‘securing the public safety, the defence of Jamaica, the maintenance of public order ...’

PROBLEMATIC POWER

The application of this power to detain within an SOE has proved problematic. Reports of arbitrary detention periods, inhumane conditions within detention facilities, inefficacy of the tribunal established to manage querying of detentions, among other factors, have led to questions of constitutional rights violations by the State.

The argument has been put forward by the Opposition that the powers available to the Government under the SOE (with the exception of the power to detain indefinitely) are also exercisable under the Constabulary Force Act and the Zones of Special Operations Act. Dr Phillips has unequivocally stated that he is in support of more ZOSOs [zones of special operation]. Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang, speaking on ‘Beyond the Headlines’ on December 12, 2018, spoke to the difficulties of gathering evidence in order to charge criminals, hence the necessity for the power of detention under the SOE. This, however, cannot be grounds for the breaching of citizens’ fundamental rights under the Constitution.

A state of emergency is not a long term solution to crime and should not be treated as such. It is an exceptional measure to be used on an interim basis with the implementation of various crime-fighting and policing strategies, in supplementation, to reduce crime levels in the medium to long term. The end of the SOE does not have to mean a withdrawal of the manpower of the constabulary and defence force in problem areas. If the Government is serious about sustaining the reduction of crime, they will not use the rejection of the extensions as a reason to end the saturation of hotspots, as clearly it has been effective. However, the infringement of the constitutional rights of citizens cannot continue. PAYTON PATTERSON Third-year Student, Faculty of Law, UWI Mona Talk Up Yout advocate