Dear Editor,

I write in response to a report in the Jamaica Observer, on January 10, 2015, that the police expect to arrest 500 people to face criminal charges in 2015 under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) Bill, or the anti-gang law.

On the face of it, this appears to be a very noble objective in an effort to reduce the crime rate in Jamaica, especially gang-related crime. However, I am not sure why the police find it necessary to broadcast the number of arrests anticipated. Why not simply say new anti-gang legislation will be enforced during 2015?

To state a specific number of arrests anticipated or intended suggests that the police already possess evidence to carry out the arrests and that it is now just a matter of detaining the offenders. I doubt that is the case, and therefore one has to be concerned that this might very well be the usual ‘net fishing’ instead of ‘spearfishing’ in respect of crime-fighting techniques to be employed.

Worse still, does it imply the wholesale detention of young men without real evidence, leaving them languishing in jail or before the courts just to achieve the targeted number of 500 arrests under the anti-gang law. One sincerely hopes our lock-ups and courts are prepared for this increased workload in 2015.

Our legislators should be vigilant in ensuring that we do not alienate our youth further, by ensuring that the provisions of the anti-gang law are not abused simply to satisfy an announced target. Any such abuse would, of course, benefit only our defence lawyers.

Colonel Allan Douglas

Kingston 10

alldouglas@aol.com