Dear Editor,

A friend of mine recently met in an accident in the early afternoon with a man who was admittedly at fault, and clearly intoxicated.

Although the man admitted to being wrong, my friend summoned the police to the scene fearing that the man was a menace to others in his condition, and that he might not even recall the accident once sober.

A statement was taken from the man confirming that he was in fact at fault, but incredibly he was not charged for driving under the influence of alcohol as, while agreeing he was drunk, the police confessed that the breathalyser machine at Constant Spring was not working!

The man was not even detained until sober, but allowed to go along his merry and drunken way, no doubt endangering other motorists (and pedestrians) in the process. Were he to have killed someone minutes afterwards, would that not have been clear negligence on behalf of the state?

In matters like this, we are sadly still "Third World". After much has been said about the reform of the police force, it is a tragic reality that we still cannot get the basic policing right. As much as I love my country, at times it is simply a shame to be Jamaican!

Richard Stewart

stewedpeas@yahoo.com

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