MP says politics bad for former cops | Amos disagrees

Retired police officer and aspiring politician Newton Amos has described as idiotic, the view that it may not be wise for former police officers to take a shot at representational politics.

Member of Parliament for St Catherine North West Robert Pickersgill expressed the opinion in a recent interview with The Beacon, while he criticized retired police officer Amos whom he defeated in the 2016 general election.

Pickersgill said: “I think what he (Amos) needs to do is to deal with his history while he was a policeman. I don’t normally say this on the platform or anywhere about his history in that regard. Those were the days when just for a little spliff you locked up a fellow. He is from the constituency [of St Catherine North West] and, whenever I go into that area, I hear all the tales of woes and his name comes up.

“I mean, if you going to go into politics, I am not sure that you should leave what was his profession before to come into politics, because it really doesn’t serve you well. On the contrary, I left law to go into politics, and I practiced a lot in North West St Catherine before I became a Member of Parliament,” Pickersgill further reasoned.

Amos, in response, said the important factor to be considered is that he left the Jamaica Constabulary Force with an unblemished record.

“That’s another idiotic position for any well learned person to have taken; it makes him (Pickersgill) appear as if he really doesn’t know what he is talking about. I served the public for 39 years as a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force honourably. I have never been reprimanded; I have never been disciplined; I have never been called to have to defend myself on certain issues other than the normal give an take here and there,” Amos told The Beacon.

Member of Parliament for St Catherine North West Newton Amos (left), Newton Amos who is a former senior police officer and aspiring politician

He continued: “As a public servant, you are always in the scrutiny of the public, and so you have to account whether it is on your own behalf or the behalf of those who you lead. I have found myself in that position on numerous occasions, and I have always walked away from it as pretty as a penny. I have served the police force and I have gone to Kings House, and I am in receipt of meritorious service [award] from the governor general – no other than the late Sir Howard Cooke. I left the police force on retirement after 39 years as an honourable discharge. I am now a pensioner and I continue to serve.”

Amos said he intends to again contest the election for the Jamaica Labour Party in St Catherine North West; Pickersgill is on the cusp of retiring from representational politics after seven consecutive victories at the polls.

By Horace Mills, Journalist

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