THE EDITOR, Sir:
STORY COME to bump. Are we surprised at the charges and counter-charges being made within the Crime Management Unit, a police unit formed a couple of years ago to deal with tough criminals and rising crime?
After much publicity and fanfare and several controversial killings - the Braeton Seven; Andrew Phang; The West Kingston affair, etc., - it appears as if the squad is about to implode and our society does not seem to be any safer. In fact, now more than ever, the sounds coming from various important sectors seem to be hollering for more tough (hard) measures.
SSP Adams, perhaps in an inappropriate forum, raised some pertinent questions with regards to the integrity, commitment and competence of the personnel Minister Phillips intends to deploy. What does the inconsistent Police Federation do? It pulls the rug from under Adams and suggests that he is nuts!
Never mind the fact that previously when Adams asserted that the UN and human rights group were set up to support criminals and that a person being innocent until proven guilty was mere semantics, the Police Federation saw nothing wrong with these positions.
I believe the time has come for us to start thinking smart rather than hard policing. We need to boost our evidence-gathering capabilities through forensic science, electronic intelligence, new management and leadership skills. It seems to me that we have spent decades trying to implement draconian measures to fight crime but to no avail. The time is right for us to truly focus on detection and conviction which are greater deterrents to crime than hard measures.
Any such attempt has to be coupled with significant improvements in our justice system and the law has to be applicable to all, from top to bottom and bottom to top.
I am, etc.,
RADCLIFF KNIBBS
rok@cwjamaica.com
Montego Bay
Via Go-Jamaica
