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Record Producer Wayne Brown and close to 600 members of the Diaspora in the UK, US and Canada have filed a claim in the Supreme Court effectively calling for the removal of the Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson in the interest of the public.
Brown is seeking leave to file for a judicial review of the processes employed by the Police Service Commission to justify keeping Anderson as commissioner of police.
The Public Service Commission has also been named in the matter that was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, March 13.
Court documents said that Wayne Brown, a record producer from Manchester in Jamaica and Carol Springs in Florida is seeking to be granted leave to apply for a number of declarations.
One such is that given the circumstances of non-performance and the lack of public confidence in Anderson, the Police Service Commission should consider it desirable to require the commissioner to resign in the public’s interest.
The application is seeking an order requiring the permanent secretary of the Public Service Commission to take steps pursuant to Regulation 24 of the Public Service Regulation to retire the police commissioner prematurely.
It is also seeking that the court makes an order requiring the Police Service Commission to disclose how it evaluates the commissioner’s performance.
The claimant hopes that the court will declare that the decision of both the Public Service Commission and the Police Service Commission, “to keep the commissioner in office despite the continued and current increase in serious crimes …. Overwhelming expressions of no- confident in the commissioner; and, the commissioner’s lack of effective security plan/strategy is in breach of the applicants right to life and security of the person granted in Section 13 (3) of the Constitution”.
Attorney-at-law Donovan Collins confirmed that his firm is representing Brown but could not speak to the cause of the document.
However, a read of the document filed in court will give some insights as to why the claim was filed.
According to the document filed, Brown and the other members of the Diaspora say they are citizens of Jamaica who have residents, close family members and businesses in Jamaica. The document said loved ones left in Jamaica by members of the Diaspora are affected by the high and pervasiveness of crime, murders and violence.
“They have lost returns on investment made in business ventures in Jamaica as people are in fear for their lives and are hesitant to do business in Jamaica,” the court documents said.
The applicants too say they fear for their lives and safety when they travel to and around Jamaica. They fear that they would lose Jamaica to criminality.
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The claim filed in court said, “since the appointment of the commissioner of police Jamaica has been experiencing wanton spates of crime and criminality, the homicide rate has increased over the continuing tenure of the commissioner and are at epidemic levels by United Nation Standards”.
Jamaica is considered one of the most violent countries in the Caribbean with a murder rate of 46.5 per 1,000.
The claim said on several occasions, under the tenure of Commissioner Anderson, the US has issued Level 3 travel advisory to its citizens warning them not to travel to Jamaica due to the risk of serious harm to life and property.
The claimants referred to the generous use of states of emergency as a crime-fighting tool and the ruling in the Constitution Court on the matter and a Don Anderson poll, which said that some 91 per cent of Jamaicans have no confidence in the commissioner to curtail crime.
The claim said that the Police Service Commission and the Public Service Commission have the power under their respective Regulations to recommend to the Governor General that the commissioner be required to retire in the public’s interest.
The claim charge that “despite the serious circumstances of wanton loss of lives and high continuing crime rates with no effective or reliable crime plan the respondents (Police Service Commission and Public Service Commission) have failed to take steps to remove the commissioner from his position”.
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