Former policeman and current Member of Parliament (MP) for St James Southern Mr Homer Davis has been saying some things that we in this space like to hear. If only, of course, he can move beyond words to action.

In his most recent public statements Mr Davis has urged, with requisite passion, the public to co-operate with the police by passing on information about crime and criminals. Just before that he condemned as “trampling on the human rights of citizens” the use of State benefits for political spoils.

The junior minister for rural development understands the full import of his public utterances, and we hope that he will not, like so many of his ilk, be indulging in fancy talk and pretty speaking to earn himself a sound byte or a newspaper headline or two.

Presenting scholarships worth $2.5 million to needy students in his constituency, Mr Davis declared: “We have some recipients here and none of them can ever say that when they applied for the assistance we ever asked them about the colour of their shirt? We don’t ask that question.

“I think it is a travesty and it is trampling on their human rights for me to be giving you benefits [based on your political association or choice].”

We also know by experience that, having served for almost two decades as a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Mr Davis is acutely aware of the reluctance of the public to provide information to the police and largely why.

We implore the minister to use all the might of his office to urge his political colleagues to band together as one in a campaign to unite Jamaicans against the gunmen who are holding the country to ransom.

The minister is keenly aware that everything that has been tried by governments from both major political parties has failed to tame the crime monster. Mobilising the country is the last desperate gasp, but it won’t work without the politicians.

Mr Davis, if he means what he says, should join with Senator Lambert Brown, who recently called on all politicians to put aside differences and work together in a sustained campaign against crime. The two together can seek to build a coalition of like-minded politicians to goad their reluctant colleagues into agreeing that crime and violence should be taken out of the partisan political arena, since it is more than clear that no one party can solve the problem.

The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica and all the important civil society organisations have worked to secure a political consensus on crime with some commendable tangibles. The missing element is the contribution by the politicians.

We continue to hope that the business community will show their commitment by going further and punish the politicians by withholding election donations until they come together to do what this country so desperately needs.

Yesterday, National Heroes’ Day, many people would have commended those whose daily acts of heroism was honoured with national awards at King’s House. We can all be heroes against crime.

If at no other time before this, now is a time for heroes who can put patrimony over party, and who are prepared to scrub out the stain of crime, as we continue to celebrate 60 years of political Independence.