The apparent targeting and murder of two policemen in separate incidents Tuesday night is a worrying development which we hope the authorities will confront with judiciousness rather than panic.

Tuesday night's events, we expect, will rekindle memories of May 2005 when, within a 12-hour period, three policemen were killed and a police station fired on in what was seen as a concerted attack on symbols of law and order. At that time, the police quickly announced that they had credible information about who were involved in the shootings and the communities from which they came. Suspects were later held.

The police have not been so quick off the mark this time, saying that they have no leads in the cases: the killing of Constable Ralston Ebanks and his sister in Portmore, St. Catherine, and of Sgt. Huan Genus and his daughter in Trelawny.

We hope that the police have an early breakthrough in the cases and that those who perpetrated these crimes will be caught and swiftly brought to justice as a result of efficient and professional investigation. That would be good not only for the morale and confidence of the constabulary, but for Jamaicans in general.

Indeed, it is widely accepted that criminals behave with impunity in Jamaica because up to now, they can operate with a low-risk factor. Hardly more than half the murders in Jamaica - and we have more than 1,000 a year - are ever 'cleared-up' and relatively few of these ever reach the courts. If murderers and other criminals are caught quickly, it would have a powerful deterrent effect on potential killers of police officers or civilians.

Moreover, a quick breakthrough in these cases would suggest that a transformation of the investigative capacity of the police is truly under way, following their skilled and professional showing in the case of the elderly Lyn couple in Mandeville.

This new professionalism must also include a new and measured approach in how the constabulary communicates with the public; fully and factually, but always mindful of the need not to spread panic or establishing a scenario for self-fulfilling prophecies. It is in that regard we are more than a little bit concerned about Commissioner Lucius Thomas' prognostication for the general election likely to be held in Jamaica before year-end. The police chief expects the campaign to be violent.

Mr. Thomas has based his analysis, he says, on 'intelligence' gathered by the police, which has spoken of an accumulation and movement of guns in the island.

We would have expected that if the police had such intelligence, rather than letting on to the perpetrators, they would act against them; the appropriate traps would be set, their caches confiscated and those caught arrested and brought to justice. Additionally, we would have expected the Police Commissioner, if he feels it would make sense, to have audience with the party leaders, warning them they would not be immune from prosecution if it was determined that criminals acted on their behalf or behest.

The Police Commissioner's priority, though, must be to get the guns and catch the criminals rather than tipping them off, while at the same time sowing panic.