The lead story in yesterday’s edition of the Jamaica Observer is testament to the possibilities of human achievement once individuals are afforded an opportunity.

As the story pointed out, Miss Mickolle Moulton would most likely have been rejoicing now had she been given a chance to receive the results of her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams.

Miss Moulton passed seven out of the eight subjects she sat, scoring grade one in mathematics, English A (language) and information technology; grade two in biology, physics and geography; and grade three in English B (literature).

While she didn’t do well in chemistry, scoring a grade four, Miss Moulton had already attained three CSEC subjects before entering grade 11 at Meadowbrook High School.

However, on August 6, someone pretending to be a human being pointed a gun into the window of Miss Moulton’s bedroom in Arnett Gardens and shot her and her 12-year-old sister.

The 17-year-old Meadowbrook High student died, while her sister has been hospitalised.

We have no doubt that someone in that community either saw or knows who committed this heinous crime. But the law of the jungle rules — “Walk and live; talk and dead!”

What we hope, though, is that residents will now see that this awful murder denied this teenager a chance to improve her life and those of her family, and possibly make a meaningful contribution to the development of the country.

The Meadowbrook High principal, Mr Michael Peart, told us that based on Miss Moulton’s performance in school they had expected her to score more grade ones. In addition, he said, she would have been a candidate for head girl.

All law-abiding Jamaicans need to think seriously about whether we intend to allow the evil, mindless few among us to continue robbing families, and by extension the country, of our most precious resource. For certainly, there are other instances of bright, promising young people being cut down by criminals.

Against that background we hope that the police and soldiers have completed their training for the zones of special operations as it is essential that they are deployed to communities where they can hopefully prevent murders and other acts of violence.

We also hope that the social support programmes linked to this anti-crime initiative are ready to be rolled out because, as we all know, policing alone won’t place a large enough dent in the crime problem plaguing this country.

We are, though, encouraged by the just-concluded domestic violence workshop which trained individuals in the art of counselling. They will add to the 400 police officers who have been trained in domestic violence prevention and counselling in the last 12 months. That, we hold, is a positive development from the police as they are providing a solution to a problem that has been with this country for a long time.

Our hope is that these anti-crime initiatives will work and save families the pain of mourning.