Dibble’s double trouble
HIS IDENTITY is unknown to me, but at first look at the video, it seemed like ‘trouble tek him.’ In a rasping voice and his hand massaging the butt of his firearm, he continued to shout at the skinny fellow, who identified himself as a sergeant of police. It escalates. The burly man who seems not too far from retirement keeps demanding to see the little man’s driver’s licence and ID.
There is no evidence to support the allegations in the video, but the young man accused the older one of pushing him and backing out his gun on him. The elder, who subsequently self-identified as an inspector of police, said nothing to refute this statement. Given the circumstance, even if he had only used his fists to threaten the youngster, he would be on shaky ground.
This is another of those dark days in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) where the combined two largest supervisory ranks were on the verge of bringing the Force into disrepute. In the background is a large service vehicle, a bus fully decorated in the trappings of the JCF. So far, one cannot tell who was driving it, but the impression is that the big man was the driver or at least a passenger in it.
What is not in doubt is that there is prima facie evidence that the young man committed an offence under the Road Traffic Act – something about overtaking around a corner. If the vehicle that he overtook was the police bus or the breach that was carried out was in full view of the occupants of the marked police carrier then the sergeant does not only have three stripes, but clearly, he has an extra gonad to add to the normal two.
DOUBLY DISRESPECTFUL
Any ordinary citizen knows that flouting the law, even a minor statute, in the presence of known police personnel is doubly disrespectful. That is why when Office Dibble is around, we exclaim, “Blouse and skirt!” or “Rahtid!” not because there is anything inherently wrong with these words, but because we do not want to diss the constable. Similarly, even if it is not the misnomered Junction Road in St Mary, a police car driving within the speed limit often creates what looks like a funeral procession. Indeed, many a driver will admit to having foot cramps on the North-South Highway because a squad car entered the toll plaza at Caymanas and drove like Miss Daisy until they reached St Ann.
Therefore, if the skinny fellow is really a police sergeant, then he has no respect for the very law that he swore to uphold. The offence is not merely a violation of the Road Traffic Act. It is a repudiation of the essence of his occupation and demonstrates an impunity that is totally unbecoming of his rank. On
Orville Taylor the face of it, the impression is that he threw caution to the wind because he is a police officer. Bet you that if he thought that the driver of the marked vehicle was above his rank, he would have waited his turn in the line and driven with the speed and meticulousness of an old policeman writing a diary entry.
For his part, the older man must take the ‘Spec’ out of his own eye, too. Anger is always a poor coach, and those who guide their actions by it are generally made fools by it. Laws are designed to protect ALL of us from EVERYONE of us. Rules and procedural guidelines issued by the constabulary, including the Use of Force Policy, are sacrosanct. If followed properly, the home team never gives up its three points.
DIFFERENT APPROACH
Rage apart, had the inspector stepped out, stopped the vehicle, identified himself, and proceeded to warn the driver for prosecution, it would probably have ended there. However, even if he is a charismatic pastor, laying of hands on another person should occur where there is either permission or the requirement to prevent him from fleeing or resisting arrest. Pulling out a firearm is assault unless the holder has reason to believe that he is in danger from the other person.
The young man, having been embarrassed, and if he is then convinced that the big man is truly an i nspector of police, should have complied and then written a proper report complaining of the misconduct of the senior man. It is not rocket science. It is something even young ‘testiculus canis’ know: that two wrongs cannot make a right.
Understand this, though. Both men are victims. They serve an ungrateful system that denigrates them. All our behavioural science speaks to the cycle of abuse. Abused people generally become abusers. Police officers who experience abuse from the planter class and their sociological successors, whether black or otherwise, their superiors who are descendants of the black slave drivers, the judiciary, attorneys and t he media often implode.
True, police officers are often their worst enemies, but the change has to come from the next generation. Hopefully the Jamaica Police Federation will pull these men together separate from any investigations by the High Command.