Dear Editor,

Jamaica’s biggest problem for the last three decades has been crime and violence, with each year’s statistics competing to top that of the previous year.

The efforts of the Government toward combating crime have been less than comforting. Criminals have been staging an all-out war against the people of Jamaica, with no end in sight. The Government, in its response to the high levels of crime, has been using its most extreme crime-fighting method without getting the desired results. The zones of special operations (ZOSO) and states of emergency (SOEs) has become normal policing, to the point at which murders continue to occur within the zones without being solved.

The Government has now started to look at various Acts, legislations, and ways to bribe and frighten criminals into submissions. These measures, also, have not been reaping for the country the rewards needed to realise the Government’s 2030 vision.

The thought of our leaders’ inability to provide an answer to crime and violence should bring us to seriously think of the “divine intervention” Opposition member Peter Bunting suggested the country needed when he was the security minister.

Criminals are fearless, ruthless, and brazen. They have been wreaking havoc and causing continued negative ratings and financial backlash for our little blessing in the sun.

The crime of murder is final, and for this reason the Government and the Opposition should be united in an effort to preserve the lives of both Jamaicans and tourists alike.

The present crime situation should not be allowed to continue, but the present measures are watered down and are desperately in need of vitamins. The overuse of the SOE has rendered it ineffective and the country is now in a state of predicament.

The People’s National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) need to sit at the table to address the crime situation for the interest of the nation.

Hezekan Bolton

h_e_z_e@hotmail.com