National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang was right on target recently when he told Jamaicans, by way of an interview with the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), that in order to work effectively the police need to build public trust.

“If a man commits a crime we have to apprehend and prosecute him, but there is a path to get there. The police must not only be provided with the right tools to be able to quickly apprehend the perpetrators — meaning investigative tools and mobility and communication — but they also have to win the trust of the community,” Dr Chang was reported as saying.

This newspaper has said repeatedly that, in order to defeat criminals, communities should be proactively mobilised to act in unity to support the police by all legal means.

Such a strategy, we have argued, will require both major political parties as well as religious groups, civil society, the business community, et al, all throwing their weight behind it.

Yet, even that will fail if the trust deficit in relation to the forces of law and order remains as low as it is.

Allegations of police brutality and wrongful shootings often leading to death are all too often captured in roadblock demonstrations and other protests in communities at the lower end of our nation’s socio-economic divide.

Then there are the allegations of bribe taking
— which lead to the unfortunate broad-brush contempt for underpaid, overworked members of the constabulary.

We believe ongoing efforts to improve remuneration as well as the working environment for our law enforcers will help over time.

So too the use of technology, including body cameras, which must be universalised for police personnel.

Perceptions of greater integrity and transparency within the constabulary apart, respect will also come with improved efficiency. Increasing reports of arrests leading to conviction in high-profile crimes are surely a big help.

Crucially, it seems to us, the trust deficit negatively affecting the police can’t be divorced from that which has afflicted wider authority dating back to colonial times.

In truth, Brer Anancy, the folk culture’s acclaimed practitioner of ‘ginnalship’ and ruthless trickery for enrichment, remains a major player in Jamaica.

We believe corruption and rumours of corruption in high places are among the major reasons for the alarming fall-off in voter participation at election time.

Allied to corruption is the litany of false promises by our political leaders down the years.

The anecdotal evidence suggests that many Jamaicans ‘kiss teeth’ and refuse to vote when election time comes around because of growing contempt for politics and its practitioners.

Even worse is the cynicism of those who we have heard that, in times past, only cast ballots when paid to do so.

Bad as that is, what are we to make of those
— presumably elected incumbents and aspirants
— who activate the distribution of cash, sometimes wrapped in party shirts?

While we contemplate talk of the dissolution and replacement of the political ombudsman’s office, it is imperative that machinery be put in place to thoroughly investigate and decisively act against electoral offences and atrocities, including vote buying and selling.

Failing which, destruction of our prized democracy, as we have known it for generations, is up ahead.