Dear Editor,

The recent murders in St James are further proof that Peter Bunting’s dependence on divine intervention is putting our lives in serious jeopardy. His announcement of a decrease in murders, from 5 to 3 per day, provided comfort only to him and his heavily guarded colleagues.

Meanwhile, DNA and anti-gang legislations, that are critical to effective crime fighting, have been placed on the back burner, while the Government focuses all the attention on the IMF Bills.

Our leaders lack the will to tame the vicious crime monster that is threatening to overcome us all. The criminals must have rolled on the ground laughing at the minister of national security’s proposed banning of music with violent lyrics as a crime-fighting measure. Since then, they have murdered 20 more.

Mr Bunting needs to wake up and acknowledge the type of hardened criminals that he is dealing with. For crime to come down he needs to do a few things:

1. The police force needs to be upgraded to an efficient, knowledgeable, professional body. They need to be given technical support, namely a functional 119 system, vehicles, closed-circuit television, and cellphone tracking capabilities.

2. The director of public prosecutions needs to be given an established deadline to bring cases to court and be given enough support staff to do same.

3. The justice system needs an overall. An efficient night court system can help to clear the backlog of cases in addition to the hiring of new professionals and para-professionals to help with case mediation.

4. An efficient and professional penal system is big deterrent to crime. Criminals should not feel like they are on vacation to get fat and rosy in our prisons. On the other hand, our prisons should not be a hotbed for human rights violations. 5) The above points all have opportunities for employment, which will go a long way to curing the social ills that plague us.

While reducing crime in any society is not easy, it is not rocket science.

A Graham

shaedye@gmail.com