THE recent Don Anderson Poll that spoke to low levels of confidence in the Jamaica Constabulary Force, its commissioner, and the minister of national security has sparked much debate.

This, of course, is a subject that will always inspire people to verbally contribute to talk shows, social media, and living room discussions islandwide.

It is therefore a subject that is worth discussing.

So let me lead with this: “I’m never in agreement with my doctor.”

However, I didn’t spend seven years in medical school either.

The public is not qualified to make a decision regarding the performance, chosen strategy, or leadership of the police force.

This is an area that people will not understand or appreciate. It’s complicated. Unless you spend time in it, it’s hard to understand the direction in which it’s going.

The talk shows buzz with calls for change. This is because people still think that the failure to return to where we were pre-1993, or even pre-1974, is that we don’t have the correct people in charge.

This is ridiculous. No one person can achieve that. It’s not how it is because of decisions made by two men over five years.

We are where we are because of many decisions made by many people over the last 40-odd years.

This is not a controlled society where, by a proclamation, you can just imprison all you choose. Thankfully, or many of us would be in jail because we are a vocal people — and what begins with crime control has the potential to become political control.

The over-50 in our population remember the 1976 election and the reality of the Opposition going to the polls with three candidates in custody.

No wonder we shot ourselves in the foot by making the Government weaker in fighting gang terrorism.

It’s because we saw the impact of a Government unshackled.

No specific individual who holds the position of either minister of national security or commissioner of police can solve the problem. They can improve it, and they have.

Crime is lower now than it was when both men took on the job. Solving it? That’s a little different. It’s not Hogwarths, so wands won’t help.

Most of the decisions that tie the hands of the police were made many years ago by people who genuinely believed they where doing the right thing.

We would have to look at the decisions then that hurt us now and try to reverse them — which, to a very large degree, is impossible.

Let’s look on a few.

The decision by God knows who in the 90s that made a district constable bound to a 40-hour workweek, no more, no less, essentially barred any suitable candidate from joining the police auxiliary in a reserve capacity (which is what auxiliary means), and condemned all who joined it to poverty, as it barred the previously allowed overtime.

When a decision was made to become a signature to the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms it was intended to ensure that the Government would be restricted to only one tool for control — the state of public emergency.

But, it didn’t intend that it would make the Government impotent in respect of truly being able to act in a crisis over a long period of time. That, however, is the result.

An attack in keeping with the attack that this society has and is enduring requires crisis decision-making.

The economic environment and the labour shortage make expanding our armed forces impossible.

A crisis response could go as far as a draft, or as little as restructuring of the Acts that allow for an auxiliary force.

However, neither the minister nor the commissioner could enact that legislation. You would require Parliament, to include the Opposition, and the Cabinet. Not to mention the Senate. You see my point?

Trying to blame two people is looking for a scapegoat.

So let’s be frank. No Government is going to be brave enough to say, “The only way that we can turn back the murder rate is for your sons and brothers to join the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Defence Force in the battlefield as soldiers and cops.” Essentially warriors.

No Government is going to ever say that the laws that guarantee your rights and freedoms need to be repealed.

However, only the removal of that charter from our constitution will allow us to revert to a position for emergency legislation that permits indefinite detention.

So, simply put, only a detention Act or the drafting of our citizens can defeat the gangs in the short run that would, in essence, please the Jamaican people.

Why? Because no Government wants to say those words.

They try other methods that won’t make us international pariahs, and the result of their efforts is a reduction of 10 per cent in homicides, and the reduction of all major crimes over five years.

With this in mind, the Government has to ignore the public and their perceptions because they can’t give them what they want.

That’s why we elect leaders — to lead, not make decisions following polls.

This, however, takes strength and focus. And a strong Opposition will use a poll like this one to remove a Government.

This is no different, irrespective of party.

The long and short of it is that the commissioner’s job is not political. I wish the minister of national security’s wasn’t either.

It is not about being popular. It’s about being effective.

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