The Long Arm of Law

The Long Arm of the Law

Many people often complain about the police but yet the police are first on their list when an emergency comes. According to Alix Finch, Police are described as the frontline of protection and service that risk their lives for our safety and ensure our safety by sacrificing their time and families for us (320). It is a terrifying thought to many wives that their spouse may not arrive home after work. Obtaining a job in law enforcement entails many risk factors, but the most devastating one is that the offspring don’t acquire much quality time with their fathers, due to the long working hours.
Policemen often get a bad reputation for many things, but here in the Caribbean, three things in particular lose them the respect of the public.   First, there is the issue of police brutality. In 2012 alone, there were 987 cases of police brutality recorded (Brenner, 7).   Brenner is not the only one highlighting the behavior of police officers. Fell and Capp also indicated that many times, police officers abuse their powers over citizens. They note a particular example in a village 3 miles outside of the capital of Roseau when police officers beat up a robbery suspect so bad he died from the attack (12; 73-79). (Davis, 2001) stated in The Cries from the Ghetto, that a parent by the name of Christina Johnson expressed her heartache by testifying “my son didn’t deserve that. Those police officers are too heartless. We are so tired of hearing that boys are beat up so badly by officers. Arrest him if you have to, if you are sure it was him, that he is guilty. That was wrong of the police. I am hurting so much.”(p.2)
Besides police brutality, many women are scattered over the islands raising the children of police officers. Finch notes that because officers are moved so often, they tend to develop relationships in each district they go leaving behind wounded hearts and illegitimate children.   What makes matters worse is that very often these policemen...