A new and sinister twist was put on the words 'police recruitment' yesterday when Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin announced that dirty police officers had "deliberately recruited" and planted a fake cop at the Mount Salem Police Station.

Lewin also said that the fake cop's cover might have been blown as a smokescreen.

The counterfeit cop went undetected for some six months before he was exposed.

"In the case under question, he never tricked the system, but through deliberate action on the part of police officers in St James, deliberate action on their part, he was recruited and incorporated into their illicit activities connected with the lotto scam," Lewin revealed at a Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) press conference at the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston.

"The wrongdoers planted him in and among them, working in concert with him. He was part and parcel of the illicit operation," he added.

A high-level investigation into the saga that has embarrassed the hierarchy of the JCF has led to the interdiction of 18 police officers, and the fate of an inspector hangs in the balance.

18 interdicted

"As a consequence of our investigations, I have interdicted from duty two sergeants, one corporal, 11 constables (and) four district constables."

He added: "There is one inspector whose interdiction is being pursued through the appropriate channels. I have no power to interdict inspectors and above, but that is being pursued through the appropriate channels," he explained.

Interdiction is the removal of a police officer from all duties, along with reduced pay. "They are required to turn in all items of government property and they remain so until the matters are disposed of," Lewin said.

Lewin said the fake cop, 23-year-old Courtney Grayson, was beaten at the station after he was arrested. The commissioner explained that the arrest of the fake cop was devised by the dirty cops after one of their colleagues was arrested on anti-corruption charges.

"Whatever the reasons, I suspect out of fear or concern, other officers involved in this activity arrested the fake cop, as was wisely reported by the media. He was arrested for impersonating a police officer. You can draw your own conclusions," he said.

"Our continued investigations revealed that we were on to something far bigger than just a civilian impersonating a police officer, and we were determined that we were not going to scoop the herd."

destroyed evidence

Lewin also revealed that the dirty cops attempted to destroy incriminating evidence, but their efforts were too late. "Several records, that is, pages in various diaries and logs at the station, related to his activities, like a sign-in for .38 revolvers on the two occasions, and those periods, have been torn from the records and I presume, destroyed."

He continued: "But, they didn't work quite fast enough, because we copied them. So we have copies of those records that have been seized."

The fake cop was also "handed an M-16 rifle when he accompanied officers to recover a stolen motor vehicle".

Lewin said he was not aware of a plea deal between Grayson and the Director of Public Prosecutions. However, he did say Grayson was cooperating with the investigation.

Grayson, who has been collaborating with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) anti-corruption unit, is now under police guard.

In the meantime, Montego Bay has remained tense, and attempts to get comments from the police hierarchy there have proved futile.

It is believed that Grayson, who was arrested on March 8 and charged for impersonating a policeman and illegal possession of property, used the badge number of a sergeant who was on suspension.

He received his denim uniform from a female cop and was living in the inner-city community of Norwood with a woman whose brother, it is alleged, is convicted gunman, Andrew Cross.

Cross, who appeared on St James' Most Wanted List last year, was arrested and sent to prison on July 25 last year.

News also coming into The Gleaner states that Grayson did youth service at the Portmore Police Station in St Catherine and that was where he acquired an affinity for the force.

Since his arrest, he has given the anti-corruption unit a multi-page statement regarding illegal activities in which he was involved with fellow officers at nights.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com