Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr Fitz Bailey might have kept it late, just as he has entered the departure lounge of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), but his call for an all-of-society assault on crime is no less critical.

Delivering one of his last official speeches before stepping away from the JCF, after 40 years and seven months, come September 7, 2024, Mr Bailey joined a call we have been making ad nauseam in this space — that the fight against crime can only be won with a unified society behind the police.

Obviously, DCP Bailey has not suddenly seen the light, after spending the best years of his life facing down the scum of society, but it must be significant that he chose the 10th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference in Montego Bay, St James, to deliver this seminal message.

One can safely conclude that, based on long and hard experience, the number two cop is even more seized of the urgency of achieving unity of the Jamaican people to fight crime, seeing the foolish split in the diaspora over issues including crime and its corollary, corruption.

Such is the conflict in the diaspora, mainly in the US, that a rival conference was held online coinciding with the MoBay gathering. Worse, the domain name Global Jamaica Diaspora by which the Government organises our nationals overseas has been registered by the dissident group, with the aim of blocking the Administration from using it.

DCP Bailey tried to impress upon the MoBay meeting something that every adult Jamaican should know by now
— that crime is not solely the domain of the police, but that of the entire Jamaican society.

“…And so, you will appreciate that crime is a very complex problem that cannot be effectively addressed by the police alone. In fact, when you look at crime, we must look not only at enforcement, but also prevention which is very critical,” the DCP stressed.

“I know this has been said before, but we really do need a joined-up approach in treating with crime,” he pleaded, adding that while law enforcement could respond to deter criminal activities, “lasting solutions require addressing the root causes of such crime which are embedded in societal structures”.

Moreover, he argued that a holistic approach is needed to move the country forward, including education, social services, economic development, and community engagement.

We’ve maintained over the years in this space that various governments have tried many initiatives, spent much resources, formed multiple committees, held numerous talks, with little to show by way of seriously curtailing crime, especially murders.

The one obvious approach that has been shunned by the politicians is the effort to take crime out of the partisan arena and bring the country together to make one great assault on this scourge.

With People’s National Party and Jamaica Labour Party supporters working together with other Jamaicans in their communities, supplying the police with information on the movement of criminals, there would be no havens for the criminals to hide.

With the leadership of the parties at the head of this initiative it would give permission to all Jamaicans to end the “informa fi ded” culture under which the criminals have sheltered.

DCP Bailey should continue to hammer home this message between now and September 7.