Dear Editor,

I write with deep concern about a dangerous truth we continue to live with in Jamaica: Too many people see wrong, hear wrong, know wrong, and still remain silent.

But before we condemn that silence as cowardice, we must be honest about the fear beneath it. In many communities, to be called an “informer” is not a small insult; it can mean isolation, intimidation, or death.

We see the signs in everyday life: a street fight, a stabbing, a bus or taxi dispute turning violent, a corrupt act done in plain sight, while people scatter, whisper afterwards, or take out a smartphone.

The killing of Nicey Green-Edwards, who police say was fatally stabbed during a dispute on Mountain View Avenue, and the reported killing of bus conductor Kemar Myrie in downtown Kingston, allegedly over $150, show how quickly ordinary conflict can become public tragedy.

After such incidents, justice often depends on frightened witnesses, yet we act surprised when people refuse statements, avoid court, or pretend they did not see what they saw.

This is Jamaica’s passive bystander effect, but it is deeper than psychology; it is tied to gang influence, community politics, mistrust of authority, slow justice, and the old warning to “see and blind, hear and deaf”.

Balance is necessary. Not every police officer, prosecutor, judge, or public servant is corrupt or careless; many serve honestly under difficult conditions, and programmes such as witness protection, Crime Stop Jamaica, the Victim Services Branch, and justice support services exist to help citizens come forward.

But a programme on paper is not the same as public confidence. When people believe information may leak, cases may stall, or powerful men may escape consequences, silence begins to feel like common sense.

Corruption deepens that fear, whether it appears in politics, policing, public contracts, business, or local leadership, because it teaches ordinary people that truth has a cost while power protects itself.

If the State wants witnesses, it must make protection visible, confidential reporting believable, investigations timely, and consequences certain.

Citizens also have a duty. We cannot want safer communities while protecting gunmen, excusing corruption, laughing at violence, or treating every person who speaks up as a traitor.

Responsibility must be shared fairly — the citizen must find courage, and the State must make that courage less likely to become a death sentence.

Randolph Anderson

Clarendon, Jamaica

randyoa@yahoo.co.uk