"The Beckles shooting was a defining moment for us," recalled Staff Inspector Dave McLeod, who, less than 72 hours later, took the helm of what was dubbed the black intelligence unit.So what happens a black police officer from Toronto takes an assignment on a "crime-washed island that has long produced one of the world's highest homicide tallies?
Its focus: the black-on-black shootings that were fuelling the worst wave of gun crimes the city has ever seen.
Staff Insp. McLeod went to Jamaica, where a Globe and Mail reporter conducted a series of exclusive interviews during the officer's last days on the job in Kingston — the crime-ravaged capital city where pockets are ruled by fearsome gangs whose reach extends clear to the streets of Toronto.There's an interesting comparison to be made between the city of Toronto and the country of Jamaica itself...
High as its homicide total was in 2004, it was higher still in 2005, reaching a record 1,674 among a population of 2.7 million people, surpassing the rates of both Colombia and South Africa.A compelling read.
By comparison, Toronto, with almost the same population, witnessed 80 homicides that year, 52 of them gun deaths.
Of those shootings, more than half involved first- or second-generation Jamaican Canadians, most in their late teens or 20s.
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More importantly, why is he still in Canada?
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