“Preventive detention” and legalized wiretapping are subjects that I will not let go of until decision day is reached. I suspect that government is hoping that these issues will fade from public consciousness over the 90-day waiting period for the legislation to take effect and then, “slam bam,” it becomes law with all its earth-shaking implications!
Make no mistake about it. If this legislation becomes law, Belize, along with its fellow CARICOM countries, will have all the apparatus in place for a police state, and that’s exactly what we will become!
I recall Prime Minister Barrow telling Channel 7 news that GOB has no intention of wiretapping journalists. Shortly thereafter, a senior police officer gave a prominent journalist the list of everybody that person spoke to on the telephone during the previous week! The list happened to be correct! All this stuff has been going on for a long time, but when it becomes “law,” ipso facto, that becomes a horse of a different color.
I do acknowledge that some of those who have different opinions are sincere as to their beliefs, but I ask them to review the history of countries that enacted this kind of legislation. In every such country, those laws have been used as a weapon to stifle legitimate criticism of government policies, and Belize will be no different.
How many readers are familiar with the phrase, “the usual suspects?” It got widespread attention as a result of its use in one of the classic movies of all time – the 1940’s “Casablanca.” More recently, an exceptional film starring actor Kevin Spacey came out with that phrase as its title. Police everywhere are familiar with that expression, because when particular crimes are committed, the cops immediately look for people who have been involved in similar escapades in the past, in other words, “ex-cons.”
The popular belief that people who have paid their debt to society by serving time therefore are now free, is simply untrue. An “ex-con” will always have to deal with extra police scrutiny, and will always be suspected when crimes that appear to resemble what he or she did in the past are committed.
If “preventive detention” becomes law, the police will simply round up all “the usual suspects,” and hold them without charging them, while they attempt to gather evidence. This would mean that “ex-cons” will have to deal with continually being incarcerated for long periods during the rest of their lives any time a crime that even remotely looks like something they may have done in the past is committed.
One of the problems with our Police Department is that they simply don’t investigate crimes before arresting suspects. In essence, they work backwards, often arresting people on just a complaint or report, instead of doing their investigation to find out if that complaint is even true in the first place! A “preventive detention” law will reinforce these tactics. Under present laws, a person can legally be held for seventy-two hours, three days, without being charged, after which that person either has to be charged or released.
“Preventive detention” will allow the police to hold suspects longer, much longer. They won’t have any incentive to learn to work properly, in other words, to investigate before making an arrest, not after.
The disruption to the lives of citizens who may be innocent will be enormous. They will be held for over a month, incarcerated in prison where all kinds of things happen, and depending on how that statute is written, they could likely be immediately arrested as soon as the time limit of their initial detention has been expired!
So, instead of reducing instances of police abuse, “preventive detention” would exacerbate such instances. Detainees are often mistreated in custody by police and by other inmates. We need legislation that will make police operate properly, not legislation that will give them more opportunity to take away a citizen’s freedom for long periods.
“Preventive detention” will not only allow the power structure to stifle legitimate opposition to government policies: it will make the criminal justice system even more biased than it already is, and it will only encourage more sloppy police work, not less.