There is need for popular mobilisation against crime
The reasons for crime are many and multifaceted. Likewise, there is no single or easy solution.
As was said in this space last Friday, the snail-paced nature of Jamaica’s justice system which, for example, has so far served to neuter what was supposed to be potent anti-gang legislation, has weakened crime-fighting. Then there is the chronically under-resourced state of the security forces: inadequate personnel on the ground, as well as sparse mobility and crime-fighting tools.
Part of the problem is that, in real terms, the Jamaican society has rarely focused on crime as a number one priority.
To be fair, Jamaica with its vibrant politics, but numerous and hefty socio/economic problems, can’t easily focus. With the competing demands of unemployment, high cost of living, inadequate health care, education, shoddy infrastructure in terms of water, housing, roads, et al, crime — enormous problem though it is – sometimes gets short shrift in election campaigns.
It’s generally accepted, for example, that the promised ‘$1.5-million income tax initiative’ was pivotal in the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) February 25 election win. Had the JLP pledged, let’s say, to double budgetary allocation to crime fighting, could they have won that election? We have our doubts.
Yet violent crime — routinely described in Jamaica as “out of hand” — impinges negatively on every aspect of life. There is every reason to believe that Jamaica’s tourism, a cornerstone of the economy, would have been much, much stronger had it not been for the country’s nasty reputation for violence and criminality.
So now, there is a two-month-old Government, like all of its predecessors, tearing out its collective hair in striving to deal with this monster – crime.
Prime Minister Mr Andrew Holness, in a recent visit to troubled St James, pointed to the need to get the message to people that they have a central role to play in bringing crime and violence to heel.
But even for those who do get the message, there is the difficulty of finding the collective will to act in support of the police and law and order.
We have long argued for proactive community mobilisation. It’s been consistently proven that in those communities with vibrant and active community organisations, such as neighbourhood watches, citizens’ associations and other action groups, criminal activity nosedives.
Criminals routinely thrive in areas with little or no unity in action and minimal people mobilisation. Recently we had reason to applaud the pledge by National Security Minister Mr Robert Montague to embrace the Unite for Change initiative introduced by his predecessor, Mr Peter Bunting.
We believe very strongly that communities should be organised with the help of their political leaders and representatives; community leaders, including parsons, teachers, police, et al; and, of course, with support and advice from the Social Development Commission. A primary aim should be to present a united face against crime and antisocial behaviour. It’s self-evident that communities which are so mobilised will reap benefits not just in fighting crime, but in other areas of socio-economic life.
Jamaicans shouldn’t keep throwing up their hands in despair. They should stand together and act to help themselves. And, as this newspaper repeatedly told former Prime Minister Mrs Portia Simpson Miller and her Government, we now tell Mr Holness and his Government: It is their responsibility to lead the way, community by community, to inspire Jamaicans to organise and unite in support of the security forces, in this fight against criminals.