LETTER OF THE DAY - Make better use of refocused army
Published:Monday | May 10, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
While both political parties are still up in arms and with no obvious strategy either being articulated or implemented, and criminals running wild, a state of emergency will need to become a way of life to prevent extinction en masse on the island.
Our good policemen and women are becoming stressed with a growing propensity to step out of bounds in applying the law as more extreme cases of lawlessness comes to the fore. We are now faced with an evolutionary crime-fighting process comparable to abuses in some of the most tyrannical states in the world.
There are a number of issues facing our country as far as crime is concerned. The strength of the leadership in the Jamaica Constabulary Force from the commissioner ranks all the way down to the rank-and-file personnel who interact with the public demonstrates that while the service can be flexible, it doesn't always maintain the standards required to foster a workable and trusting relationship with communities in a way that engender a holistic and successful crime-fighting apparatus.
Second, it seems that money might well be a huge part of this public-relations fight against crime that politicians on both side and, frankly, concerned citizens have engaged over the past 20 years. This has only served for much tinkering at the edges rather than uprooting some of the fundamental ingredients for what is incrementally feeding even more reprehensible acts.
competition
The situation our crime-committing constituents have found themselves in is akin to a body mandated to initiate policy. There seems to be a competition ensuing among criminals to maximise fear in the communities where they operate by engaging in creative and sensationalised killings.
The Government should undertake a strategic review of using the army or a transformed para-military service to clear, hold, build and train. This strategy is expensive but might be the most effective way of reforming our society. If the Government embarks on a clear "hold, build and train strategy", the police would have to become more focused on intelligence gathering and better integrated into communities. They will need to earn the trust of citizens with the ability to maintain law and order when an area is judged to be cleared and normalised.
Wake up. The country is at war.
I am, etc.,
GARNETT WAITE