The intense interest in the sensational developments at Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries, further heightened by the death of its leader, should have, we believe, elicited greater attention from the highest level of the police high command.

Our expectations are not merely based on now familiar scenes of police chiefs in the US routinely holding press briefings at major incidents involving loss of life and in which there is great public interest.

Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson journeyed to St Thomas in what seemed like an effort to reassure citizens that the Jamaica Constabulary Force was giving the requisite attention to the traumatic abduction of a nine-year-old girl from Bath.

We believed it was a good move on the part of the police commissioner and not a mere public relations stunt, because the entire nation was riled up over the dastardly kidnapping of such a young, innocent child.

In this regard, the absence of the commissioner from the developments after the October 17, 2021 killings in Montego Bay, St James, which have so mortified and outraged the nation, has not gone unnoticed. Senior Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay did her usual best, but more was needed from higher up.

Of a truth, General Anderson cannot turn up at every crime scene, but we speak not of just any crime scene, but one which has gripped and embarrassed the country before the world because of the barbaric nature of the atrocities.

Moreover, there are questions about the police handling of the case of the self-styled crown bishop since he was taken into custody following the ritualistic killing and mayhem at his ill-fated church.

Mr Smith, along with Police Constable Orlando Irons, died in a crash on the Linstead bypass in St Catherine, and two other cops have been hospitalised with serious injuries, en route from Montego Bay to Kingston.

The death of the high-profile Mr Smith under circumstances which are still not yet clear, has given rise to widespread and wild speculation among the populace about motives, demonstrating the extreme level of mistrust in explanations given by the police.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Clifford Chambers, who is in charge of Police Area One, has not been able to satisfy the obvious thirst for information about why Mr Smith was being transferred from the western city for further questioning by detectives, and the route chosen to take him.

“More evidence turned up, which requires further questions, which is part and parcel of why he was being transported… It could be a threat, it could be intelligence, it could be any kind of intelligence that the police have why they would use a particular route over another,” ACP Chambers told journalists.

That is way too vague.

Also, we are now hearing that police vehicles on duty are not allowed free passage through the toll booths, and there are complaints from the Police Federation that its members are not reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses when travelling on the toll roads. This matter can and must be expeditiously fixed, Mr Commissioner.

Finally, we expect to hear more about the crash which, without more, has all the hallmarks of a speeding collision. Were the cops being chased? We need to hear from the police commissioner.