Tweet
EDITORIALS
NO SUBSTITUTE FOR POLICE PRESENCE
Monday, June 22, 2009
Just in case we needed any prompting, our story on crime in Mandeville in yesterday's edition of the Sunday Observer would have triggered considerable contemplation of the extent to which criminality is dominating national life.
For while the people of Mandeville and its environs are alarmed, they should be aware that as far as crime is concerned, fellow citizens in places such as Kingston, southern and central St Catherine as well as numerous communities in St James, Clarendon and Westmoreland would gladly switch places.
That's no consolation for people like businessman Mr George Bird who remembers "when you could boast that there is no crime in Mandeville".
Mandeville is not alone in terms of the experience related by Mr Bird. In virtually every Jamaican rural town or village there are people who will recall a time in their neighbourhood when murders - usually caused by some localised, domestic feud - were very few and far between and armed robberies and rapes never happened.
There are several reasons for the rapid escalation of violent crime across Jamaica over the past four to five decades. Undoubtedly, the influx of guns for politically tribalised warfare dating back to the 1960s has been a major factor in the growth of a gun culture.
Drugs and extortion have long taken over from politics as the prime motivation for violent gang activity. Today, so-called 'dons' manipulate unemployed, uneducated, empty-headed youth to serve their evil ends.
As we have said repeatedly in this space, the State must take the blame for so failing to attend to the needs of our poorest that the 'dons' stepped in to fill the vacuum.
The last 20 years have seen the spread of the 'don' and gang culture to places such as Mandeville as criminals migrate with relative ease.
But this newspaper feels strongly that with the proper political will, the security forces supported by the central and local authorities and well-thinking residents can conquer the criminals in many rural communities without the degree of difficulty being experienced in Kingston, Spanish Town or Montego Bay.
However, to achieve success, the authorities will have to start behaving in a proactive manner. A stronger police presence in all communities - not just the worst affected by crime - is a must.
The failure to significantly boost the numbers of the constabulary despite recognition at all levels of the urgent need is among the more shameful aspects of governance down the years. So that we have the ludicrous situation in which Jamaica's crime rate is the highest in the Caribbean but its police-population ratio is said to be among the lowest.
Our archives show that in 2005 former National Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips pledged that by 2007 the police establishment would have increased from 8,500 to 12,000. The failure by the then government to allocate the necessary resources means that today that pledge remains unfulfilled. Police numbers have hardly moved, if at all.
We are glad that the authorities have now seen fit to utilise the Tranquility Bay facility in Treasure Beach as a temporary training centre to boost numbers even while expansion takes place at the Twickenham Park headquarters.
Increasing the number of police on the streets won't by itself be an adequate strategy to bring crime to heel over the long term. But in this war against criminals there is no substitute for a strong police presence.
NO SUBSTITUTE FOR POLICE PRESENCE
Monday, June 22, 2009
Just in case we needed any prompting, our story on crime in Mandeville in yesterday's edition of the Sunday Observer would have triggered considerable contemplation of the extent to which criminality is dominating national life.
For while the people of Mandeville and its environs are alarmed, they should be aware that as far as crime is concerned, fellow citizens in places such as Kingston, southern and central St Catherine as well as numerous communities in St James, Clarendon and Westmoreland would gladly switch places.
That's no consolation for people like businessman Mr George Bird who remembers "when you could boast that there is no crime in Mandeville".
Mandeville is not alone in terms of the experience related by Mr Bird. In virtually every Jamaican rural town or village there are people who will recall a time in their neighbourhood when murders - usually caused by some localised, domestic feud - were very few and far between and armed robberies and rapes never happened.
There are several reasons for the rapid escalation of violent crime across Jamaica over the past four to five decades. Undoubtedly, the influx of guns for politically tribalised warfare dating back to the 1960s has been a major factor in the growth of a gun culture.
Drugs and extortion have long taken over from politics as the prime motivation for violent gang activity. Today, so-called 'dons' manipulate unemployed, uneducated, empty-headed youth to serve their evil ends.
As we have said repeatedly in this space, the State must take the blame for so failing to attend to the needs of our poorest that the 'dons' stepped in to fill the vacuum.
The last 20 years have seen the spread of the 'don' and gang culture to places such as Mandeville as criminals migrate with relative ease.
But this newspaper feels strongly that with the proper political will, the security forces supported by the central and local authorities and well-thinking residents can conquer the criminals in many rural communities without the degree of difficulty being experienced in Kingston, Spanish Town or Montego Bay.
However, to achieve success, the authorities will have to start behaving in a proactive manner. A stronger police presence in all communities - not just the worst affected by crime - is a must.
The failure to significantly boost the numbers of the constabulary despite recognition at all levels of the urgent need is among the more shameful aspects of governance down the years. So that we have the ludicrous situation in which Jamaica's crime rate is the highest in the Caribbean but its police-population ratio is said to be among the lowest.
Our archives show that in 2005 former National Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips pledged that by 2007 the police establishment would have increased from 8,500 to 12,000. The failure by the then government to allocate the necessary resources means that today that pledge remains unfulfilled. Police numbers have hardly moved, if at all.
We are glad that the authorities have now seen fit to utilise the Tranquility Bay facility in Treasure Beach as a temporary training centre to boost numbers even while expansion takes place at the Twickenham Park headquarters.
Increasing the number of police on the streets won't by itself be an adequate strategy to bring crime to heel over the long term. But in this war against criminals there is no substitute for a strong police presence.
Comment