Ellington's reminder timely and worthy of support

Monday, October 10, 2011

THE thing we like most about Police Commissioner Owen Ellington is his seeming resolve not to lose focus in the fight against criminals.

So though the country is caught up in the political excitement generated by Prime Minister Bruce Golding's notice of resignation, the imminent ascent of Mr Andrew Holness as the replacement for Mr Golding and the likelihood of early elections, Mr Ellington refuses to be distracted.

Further, he insists that the rest of us — not least the Jamaica Constabulary — pay close attention.

Hence his trumpeted reminder to us all in police Force Orders published last week: "We are fighting to turn around an extremely violent and insecure social environment in which organised crime actors and violent criminal gangs pushed our murder toll to a rate of 65 per 100,000 of the population in 2009, making Jamaica one of the most murderous countries in the world. Crime is now a national security and development concern which we must all commit to resolving."

Mr Ellington tells us that an upsurge in murder, shooting and robberies in recent months is eroding the progress made earlier this year when, according to police statistics, murders and other serious crimes had decreased by 40 per cent.

He reminds police rank and file that "As a matter of course, anti-gang operations must be ongoing in all divisions and the police must dominate public spaces, especially those known to be of economic importance to gangs. Communities and premises known to be occupied by gangs and gang members should also be a regular target for police operations. In the spaces, there can be no leniency or accommodation for any type of offence or anti-social activities, no matter how slight..."

We believe that quite apart from keeping us all on our toes, Mr Ellington's pronouncements are timed to remind our political directorate — even as they are caught up in the changing of the guard — that there can be no easing up on criminals.

In that respect, notwithstanding the outcry from human rights activists, we say again that a grand opportunity to devastate criminal gangs was missed last year.

This newspaper remains firmly of the view that in the context of Jamaica's high crime rate, last year's limited State of Emergency was lifted prematurely. In fact, we believe that the special emergency powers for the security forces should have been extended outside of Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine to a number of other communities plagued by criminal gangs. Not indefinitely, but long enough for those criminal networks to be broken.

We suspect that the Trinidad and Tobago authorities took the Jamaican experience into serious consideration when they imposed and are persisting with a state of emergency in that country.

But there is no point crying over spilt milk. Suffice it to say that the Jamaican Government under new leadership — before and after parliamentary elections — should resolve to ensure that the security forces receive all the support they need to bring criminals to heel.

More to the point, the society and the electorate must demand that this happens.

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Ellington's reminder timely and worthy of support