Jamaica continues to be punched into the corner by an unbridled crime monster. And, disturbingly, a still much-divided country based on partisan lines continues to believe that the responsibility of dealing with crime rests solely with the Jamaica Labour Party or the People’s National Party — whichever is in power. Yes, it is the primary duty of every administration to ensure the safety and well-being of its citizens, but crime is such a complex issue that it demands a consensual approach that must involve all sectors of the society.

Against the backdrop that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) was initially established after the Morant Bay Rebellion (1865), as a paramilitary body, over these many decades the modus operandi of the police has been to use physical force to curb criminal activities. The political directorate has also bought into this mantra which led, for example, to the Suppression of Crimes Act, which gave law enforcement men and women seemingly unbridled powers to nab and detain, as well as gave room for unscrupulous and roguish cops, in some instances, to carry out extrajudicial killings.

In the meantime, the highly touted community policing strategy has failed, for the most part, because of the prevailing “informa fi dead” culture, as well as the high level of corruption in the JCF itself. To put it bluntly, the ordinary, working class Jamaican does not trust the police, while those in the higher echelons of the society know that they can easily bribe their way out of a problem. So our prisons are overflowing with “ghetto youths” while many upper class criminals go about their nefarious activities untouched. And to add insult to injury, the involvement of politicians, particularly in our impoverished, inner-city communities, in various acts of victimisation, intimidations, handouts, cronyism, the “parson must christen him pickney fus’ ” syndrome, drugs and gun trading, and donmanship tactics have already been well recorded for posterity.

Over the last two administrations, the two national security ministers, namely Peter Bunting and Robert Montague, have expressed their frustrations when all else appears to have failed, by firstly appealing for divine intervention, and latterly a nuanced espousing of the legitimacy of obeah as a possible counter-attack against heinous and wily miscreants. While our politicians continue to pussyfoot around the subject, all the while seeking cheap mileage, the police force has seen its own cycle of diminishing returns with the continuing attrition of police commissioners — the majority of whom have had to quit amidst perceptions of an inability to get the job done, chief of which is to bring down the murder figures.

So we are now back at square one and much pressure is being placed on Minister Montague and Acting Police Commissioner Novelette Grant who seem to be already being drawn into that inevitable vortex of the Peter Principle (the principle that members of a hierarchy are promoted until they reach the level at which they are no longer competent). Of course, the bottom line is that divinations and wild imaginings as well as half-baked, not-well-thought-out policies that are not data driven or reliant on scientific analysis are part and parcel of a national plan destined to fail. In other words, we must fight crime with science, not ‘sciance’.

The

Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines science as, “The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment; a systematically organised body of knowledge on any subject.” Thus, forensics inclusive of the full use of DNA technology, utilising more data from psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, transforming how our police force operates by drastically changing its culture and hierarchical structure based on reliable research, and taking crime fighting out of the clutches of narrow, partisan one-upmanship are but some of the methodologies that must be embraced.

This writer strongly believes that every person that has been incriminated should be part of a DNA database established with the necessary checks and balances. And we need to see more meaningful research studies coming out of our universities, as well as graduates trained to fight crime in its various aspects.

This country already has too many lawyers and too few genuine, committed crime fighters. There needs to be an appreciable balance. Criminology in all its aspects must be touted as a preferred career path, or is it that the nation’s only response to crime fighting is to produce defence lawyers that thrive professionally and financially from this pursuit?

I am not attacking our lawyers, but how many of them have ventured into social advocacy in a society where there is so much inequity and iniquity? It must be understood that one of Jamaica’s foremost problems that stares us in the face everyday is the high level of inequality. And if we do not deal with it, one day the chickens are going to come home to roost. In real terms, much of our politics is more aligned to “sciance” than to science in that we oftentimes resort to hocus pocus methods in tackling national challenges.

An example, I believe, is the decision to remove tints from public passenger vehicles (and, as is being encouraged, private vehicles as well). Is it based on credible data or just a knee-jerk policy decision based on perception more than reality?

Incidentally, a large number of impoverished youths who provide tinting services will soon be out of a gainful livelihood. Will they then turn to a life of crime? In that same breath, what of the many youngsters who have been scamming their way to much wealth but are gradually being forced out of that criminal activity? Is there any plan to fill that vacuum? Is there no redemption?

‘Aiiy sah,’ Jamaica really needs to visit a balm yard, or will our various experts come forward with the right solutions and not just public relations gimmickry? “Hubacaba, cabacaba, mek mi tun mi roll. Sciance again!”

lbsmith4@gmail.com

Editor’s note: The term ‘sciance’ is a colloqial synonym for obeah.