Mistrust alive and well

THE KILLING of a state witness should be a matter of grave concern to all.

And in the case of Je’Hlano Romney, 30, who was gunned down on Sunday night at Poinsettia Drive, Morvant, this is particularly so given that he was a key witness in relation to the death of a police officer and given the way the police conducted themselves in that matter.

It is worrisome that mere hours after Mr Romney’s death, police officials told television audiences the “probable cause” related to gang activity.

This is worrisome because it suggests the police have learned nothing from the events of April, when Mr Romney was declared a suspect in the death of PC Clarence Gilkes even before the results of ballistics analysis suggested otherwise.

The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) later found top officials were misled, but this didn’t erase the clear rush to judgment.

The designation of a matter as “gang-related,” like the claim that a dead suspect “opened fire,” is all too often perceived to be straight out of a playbook of which the public is increasingly weary.

Time will reveal the circumstances of Mr Romney’s death, but in the meanwhile not even labelling of the incident as gang-related will be enough to dispel mistrust in official accounts.

It is a mistrust that is the fruit of a weakened system of police regulation, in which the PCA, for all its high profile, is little more than a toothless bulldog unable to hold errant officers properly to account, particularly over police-involved civilian deaths.

The conflicting accounts of whether Mr Romney wanted witness protection are, in this context, unsurprising.

Police say Mr Romney repeatedly refused their care.

Yet, given that mere months ago the same police had turned Mr Romney into their prime suspect, declared war on his community and engaged in a manhunt which saw allegations of abuse of power, it would not be surprising if Mr Romney did not wish to be subject to these officers’ protection. Up until his death he was suing the State.

At the same time, conflicting reports suggest the witness did wish for protection.

All of it underlines the fact that the police face a serious credibility problem, despite the hard work so many officers put in.

The public believes officers can shoot to kill without consequences. And many do not feel confident in risking their lives to give the police information or to act as witnesses.

The PCA recently backed the idea of having errant officers pay damages.

Unfortunately, such a weak reform won’t suffice to restore the trust already lost. And it won’t silence the doubts of the public when incidents like Sunday’s occur.