Linkages Blindness/Being Ethically Blind
What is Linkage Blindness?
This happens when administrators and investigators will not admit or do not know that a serial killer is in their midst.
Linkage Blindness is one of the major weaknesses of our structural defenses in Jamaica against crime and our ability to control it. The exchange of useful information/data among the different police departments within the fourteenth (14) parishes is very poor and it is affecting the nation as a whole. This issue simply defines the lack of sharing and or coordinating information as well as the lack of adequate interaction by local law enforcement agencies.
This lack of sharing is prevalent in Jamaica with law enforcement officers and their agencies. As it is a contributing factor to the high crime rates within the country and this supports the Jamaican slang " see n blind, hear n deaf." An example of linkage blindness or a situation that can help to better define the issue is if a Police officer or a detective/investigator is unable to relate a crime to another because of various factors/reasons. This could be a result of a police officer distributing valuable information that could assist an officer to pin a suspect to the crime. Additionally, not only police officers, but community members can also contribute to the issue by housing criminals.
Linkage Blindness is still an ongoing issue in Jamaica so there is yet to be a solution to fix this because it is doing more bad than good. As a pending Law enforcement practitioner my recommendation to aid this issue is for a digital documentation system to be implemented. This will allow for each station to have access to certain information/data. By doing so will eliminate the whole linkage blindness issue and the work of the officer will become less tedious as well as the crime rates will decrease.
Ethically blind basically means that persons of good behavior or of high integrity behave in a way that is not in their nature.
People tend to behave unethically without even realizing it at times. Numerous times police officers and even citizens decide choose to be ethically blind in some situations. Alot of time persons may know information on particular person of interest and they choose to be silent on the matter. “sniches get stiches” Being ethical blind to situation can cause a person with high integrity to deviate from the ethical value they set for them selve or what they have to follow.
An example of a situation where a person is being ethically blind is “ A police officer living in a house where a occupant of that same house is involved in lottery scamming. Ethical blindness comes in where as the police might choose not to report the lottery scammer because they might for a relationship and he’ll choose not to say anything to the authorites or make an arrest.” Another example of a situation is “A man may be wanted by the police, but his mom or family member allows him to in their home. (provide food and shelter for the wanted man). This family is ethically blind because the wanted man is a loved one. It can also be a result of the wanted man threating the owner of the house where he is hiding.