IT SEEMS that the Jamaica Constabulary has quietly set about tackling the intractable problem of major crime by setting up a special permanent team of detectives dedicated to crime reduction.
Their basic equipment will be not guns but training in investigation, buttressed by diligent, sustained hard work and professionalism.
To draw a comparison from the world of journalism, the Major Investigation Team, as the 100-member unit is called, will combine brain work and detective skills with leg work -- knocking on gates, talking with potential witnesses and other citizens, visiting crime scenes, pouring over statements and old files. This is a vital part of the hard, painstaking, unglamorous job of policing but the one most likely to get results by bringing the guilty to justice and thus winning lasting public co-operation and support.
In many jurisdictions once a new divisional commander takes over he or she reopens the files of all unsolved cases. Taking a page from this book, it appears that the detectives of the Major Investigation Team, with their mandate to tackle the 3,800 unsolved major crimes recorded so far this year in Jamaica, will be working as a proactive force, going aggressively after wrongdoers rather than throwing up their hands at the first hurdle.
It would be foolish to expect the Major Investigation Team to solve in the first three months of its operations the 3,800 serious crimes it will be targeting.
The important point is that a new beginning is being made. The aims of the five-year Corporate Strategy of the Jamaica Constabulary are being implemented in a practical, commonsense way which recognises that the greatest deterrent to crime is the fear of getting caught - not the fear of punishment, no matter how severe it is.
The formation of the new team reflects the stated commitment of Commissioner Francis Forbes "to break this reactive spiral (of policing) and pursue proactive policing methods which will gain the support of the public, support which we need to be truly effective."
For the team to be effective and successful it must be provided with all the resources and support it needs -- from raincoats to transportation, from latex gloves to DNA analysis. Otherwise it will go very swiftly, the way of all other good ideas.
And lest we forget, neither the Major Investigation Team nor the entire Jamaica Constabulary and its auxiliaries, can fight crime alone. They need the total co-operation of the society and all other facets of the justice system. We are already into the 21st century with its variety of new and sophisticated crimes which can be fought effectively only with new ideas and the support of the public.
