Dear Editor,

The Government’s position of rethinking how we do social intervention in Jamaica to reduce the high rate of murder has some people crying “the sky is falling”. But it’s full time a rethink is ordered.

One thing I have not heard much talk about is the single most important thing: Do the programmes actually work for the amount of money being spent?

Many people who actually have direct knowledge of these programmes will tell any objective person who will listen: No they don’t work.

Social intervention in Jamaica is geared towards paying warring sides not to kill each other.

Under no sensible system can social interventions programmes base their objectives off anything near this principle. What happens when the money runs out, or the warring factions want more money? How many criminals have such programmes rehabilitated or turned over to the police?

These programmes are not geared towards turning over criminals to the police, but to bribe them to stop killing each other. That’s rubbish! You can’t be spending so much money to pay people not to kill each other.

I heard the Opposition spokesman on security says the Government is pursuing the states of emergency (SOE) that don’t work while cutting funding to programmes like the Peace Management Initiative that works. Where are their successes? It is precisely because social intervention has not worked why we have to turn to SOEs.

The amount of money wasted on enriching a lot of people, including gunmen, who routinely take such funds to create mayhem elsewhere — if the stories are to be believed — could have transformed the police force into a modern, well-equipped, state-of-the-art security apparatus.

The amount of different social interventions underway in this country for so long and the crime rate continues to spiral shows very clearly it all ain’t working.

I remember time and time again hearing ‘interventions’ justify there failings to really stop the mayhem by saying they don’t have enough money. And no matter how much they get their results havent improved. Social intervention programmes in Jamaica is big business for some, just like commissions of enquiry are, and it’s full time we understand that fact.

Putting more money into schools, improving the police force, more money into zones of special operations are much more structured and sensible ways of doing intervention.

There is no bargaining with dons, no paying people off not to kill each other. Clear out the violence producers and allow communities to thrive in peace.

Fabian Lewis

tyronelewis272@gmail.com