THE EDITOR, Sir:
WHILE I am not opposed to scheduled operations by the police to minimise the level of crime in Jamaica or to demonstrate its zero tolerance approach to continuous traffic offenders, the objective(s) of the lawmen must be questioned in regard to the series of spot checks that are being conducted in the evenings on the busy Portmore Causeway during the peak hour traffic.
Since February 27, 2004 and up until March 3, 2004, we the people of Portmore and its environs have been subject to what I would call 'Operation Congestion' going across the Portmore Causeway by a police party that is expectedly positioned below the Causeway Bridge. Each evening, randomly selected vehicles are taken out of the queue and some sort of check conducted. This operation causes 'bumper to bumper' traffic all the way down on Marcus Garvey Drive as well as from Hagley Park Road and through the Portia Simpson Miller Square (previously the Three Miles roundabout).
Editor, maybe if we knew the objective(s) or the results of these continuous spot checks we would not complain too bitterly about the inordinate long hours spent in the line of traffic to get home, especially after a hard day at work. One of the main questions we seek the answer to is, "Why the Portmore Causeway for such an every evening police operation?" And, why conduct it during the peak hour traffic? Just imagine, you spending three hours after work in the line of traffic to get home from Downtown Kingston! Your mind, body and soul literally shut down and all you want to do is to vent your anger on anything or anyone crossing your path.
Portmore is not crime-free. For the most part though, the criminals seem to know by now when and where the police usually conduct operations. It is therefore a given that once there is a long pile-up of traffic on Marcus Garvey Drive leading on to the Causeway it is because of an accident, a disabled vehicle or a police operation below the bridge. Don't you think the gunmen also know this? Assuming they do, which sensible criminal is going to creep his way into a police trap?
The benefits of surprise police spot checks cannot be over-emphasised. Patrolling in unmarked vehicles along our busy thoroughfares and even sometimes in remote areas could reap big successes but certainly not an everyday operation below the Causeway Bridge leading to 'Operation Congestion' for motorists.
I am, etc.,
PAUL A. COBOURNE
Passagefort,
Portmore
