Mr. Prime Minister

This is a composition about bad policing in Jamaica.

Based on true events

 

On Tuesday morning, evil men and women raided Lincoln Road.

It was a joint police/military operation in the rush hour.

The Jamaican security forces swarmed the area like locusts.

And the damn idiots claimed that they were looking for criminals.

Why did they not search the House of Parliament first?

Mr. Prime Minister, do you regard this as police intelligence?

 

Do Jamaican police and soldiers know the meaning of criminal?

Some dictionaries define criminal as a person who has committed a crime,

But you cannot call people criminals before you prove their guilt.

A suspect must be tried by a judge or jury in a court and convicted of a crime.

Then and only then can you justifiably call the person a criminal.

Is that not completely right, Mr. Prime Minister?

 

The police harassed and intimidated the poor citizens of the ghetto.

Moreover, the uncouth police addressed the civilians with obscenities.

It is unlawful to utter bad words in public, if I am not mistaken.

The police detained scores of young men and one woman.

And they threatened to kill the men whom they carried away in three trucks.

Is that the way your dogs should treat the people, Mr. Prime Minister?

 

No police or soldier would go to a community alone and mistreat the people,

Yet the security forces feel strong with the support of their colleagues.

Those whom the police and soldiers pushed around were unarmed persons.

That is not strength; it is cowardice and bullyism, Mr. Prime Minister.

Cowards and bullies usually pick on weak individuals.

When will this governmental oppression and state terrorism end?

Author's Note

The poet does not fear evildoers.