Social Media Mischief Makers And The Security Forces

Background

This week I put up a post about a lady and her son who post what seemed like false statements about the police. (The blog which was posted) This is the story about a woman who said she was stopped by the police while taking her sick child to the Children's Hospital in Kingston in what she described as an emergency, She declared how the police were heartless and they did not offer to assist her in getting to the hospital with her sick child. Now we are hearing that all of this was false! I hope that this lady can be charged for mischief making. Do we have a law called The Prevention of Mischief Act? This story fooled many Jamaicans. It got over 10,000 likes. We were conned by someone who could do well in the scamming business! You were fooled too? 😆 If she was a scammer, you could have been fooled by her and end up losing some hard earned cash by believing her story.

Statement From The JCF

Following a viral video shared on multiple social media platforms over the weekend of July 2^nd, depicting woman accusing the Police of preventing her from taking her sick child to the Bustamante Hospital for Children during a traffic stop, the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau (IPROB) was instructed to conduct an investigation into the allegations.

 

Reports are that on Friday, July 2 about 5:30 p.m. a team of Police from the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB) was conducting traffic enforcement activities along Mountain View Avenue, in the vicinity of Arthur Wint drive, when a Toyota Corolla motor car, driven by a woman and accompanied by a teenager, was signalled to stop. The driver complied and the Police requested her motor vehicle documents, which revealed the following:

1.    The Certificate of Fitness expired on August 21, 2020

2.    Registration cetificate expired on May 31, 2021

3.    The driver also confirmed that the insurance on the motorcar was also expired

 

After pointing out the breaches of the Road Traffic Act, the driver was informed that she will be tickected and the motor car will be seized. She then proceeded to tell the Police that she has an emergency and is transporting her sick child to the Bustamante Hospital. A check of the car revealed that there was no sick child in the car and that the child was already at the hospital. The Police proceeded to solicit the assistance of a taxi to take her to the hospital, at no charge to her, which she refused. A further attempt was made to assist her in another Police service vehicle and she also refused and insisted that the officers on location take her to the hospital.

 

IPROB has since completed its peliminary enquiry into the incident and has found that the Police exercised due care and complied with the policies and procedures of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, as well as the laws of Jamaica. The findings, after interviewing the complainant, her teenage son and the officers involved, revealed that there was no sick child in the vehicle, that the woman was offered alternative transportation by the Police, following which her vehicle was seized for breaches under the Road Traffic Act and she received two traffic tickets.

 

Drivers are being reminded that it is their responsibilty to ensure that motor vehicles are road worthy by checking that all vehicle documents are up to date including insurance, certificate of fitness and registration certificate in order to avoid prosecution. Futhermore, the Police is duty bound to enforce the provisions of the Road Traffic Act for safety of all road users.

Note: We should note that the post which had false information got over 10,000 likes and yet I cannot even get 10 followers and I am giving information to help others. Let good prevail. Share my post with as many persons as possible and ask them to follow my blog. This is one way that good can overcome evil.

Recently some youngsters were speeding and they ended up in a car crash and some of them died. There were demonstrations subsequently and persons accused the police of killing these youngsters. Now that we realize that the accusation was baseless,  I am yet to hear anyone apologizing for making false statements against the police. 

In another case a woman threatened police officers with a knife and she was killed by the police. Persons should understand that they should not even consider to confront a police officer especially with a knife at that! The police could have attempted to disarm her and end up losing his life. He also has family members to think of. The society has become extremely violent and we just have to change or these unfortunate incidents will continue to occur.