Dear Editor,

The escalating murder by the gun is of great concern and it needs to be addressed immediately.

What seemed missing from the minister of national security’s plans, however, is the protection of the nation’s borders. The Government should invest in the protection of the nation’s 1,022 km (634 miles) border coastlines with an efficient Coast Guard and border patrol equipped in preventing terrorists and illegal weapons from entering Jamaica.

Perhaps, instead of tampering with the current arrangements of auxiliary fees in schools that money should have gone into acquiring radar-detecting equipment, patrol boats, surveillance aircraft, and the recruiting of more Jamaicans as border patrols to comb our shores via land and sea. We need a cohort of men and women who will work tirelessly as vigilant protectors of our nation’s borders.

This should be one of the main priorities of Robert “Bobby” Montague’s first year as minister, along with the appeal to citizens to hand in illegal guns, accompanied by a systematic and deliberate search for illegal weapons in all communities across Jamaica. Our citizens also must realise that the success of any crime plan requires our participation in reporting these illegal guns to the security forces.

Let us secure our borders and secure the lives of our fellow Jamaicans.

Dudley C McLean II

Mandeville, Manchester

dm15094@gmail.com