US Authorities Ban Jamaican Former Top Cop

US Authorities ban Jamaican former top cop – The US State Department on Thursday listed the retired police officer and several others as perpetrators of several human rights violations in Jamaica.

Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo says this Human Rights Day the United States reaffirms its commitment to using every appropriate tool and available authority to draw attention to violations of human rights no matter where or when they occur.

He says the US is also committed to promoting accountability for those responsible for those violations and abuses.

The State Department went on to outline that it is publicly designating officials of foreign governments and their immediate family members under section 7031  of the Department of State, Foreign Operations and related programs, Appropriations Act of 2020  for the officials’ involvement in gross violations of human rights.

Section 7031, C provides that in cases where these violations are confirmed as credible, the officials and their immediate family members are to be designated publicly or privately, and are ineligible for entry into the United States. 

The US State Department listed the following names from jamaica; Devon Orlando Bernard, Reneto Decordova Adams, Patrick Anthony Coke, Shayne St Aubyn Lyons, Leford Gordon, and Roderick Collier, for what it describes as their involvement in gross violations of human rights in Jamaica.

The US authorities say in their capacities as officers in the Jamaica Constabulary Force, JCF’ s Crime Management Unit, these individuals were reportedly involved in the extrajudicial killings of four people on May 7, 2003.

The incident was locally branded the ‘Crawle Killings’. A jury found the men to be all innocent and all were acquitted.

CVM Live understands that Mr. Adams’ US visa which was taken by the authorities, was later reissued by the US State Department and he served the JCF another two years before retiring.

After retiring he applied for the post of Police Commissioner but was overlooked. Mike says the United States values its close partnership with the Jamaican government and people and reinforces in this way its commitment to human rights and holding perpetrators accountable.

Meanwhile, when our news centre sought a comment from the police commissioner, Major General Antony Anderson Thursday afternoon, we were advised he would not be speaking on the matter at this time.

Several calls placed to Mr Adams’ cellphone went unanswered.