What, we wonder, would our national heroes make of Jamaica in 2022?

We have a feeling they would be hit hardest by the appallingly high levels of violent crime.

We all know it, we keep saying it: sustainable action must be taken against criminals.

What’s to be done?

Not for the first time, we recognise the extreme frustration of Member of Parliament (MP) for St James Southern Mr Homer Davis, a former mayor of Montego Bay.

The ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) MP wants his constituents to give up criminals known to them.

“Shub dem out! Stop washing the bloody clothes, stop locking [away] the guns on their behalf, stop protecting these criminals because soon and very soon they will turn on you!” is his clarion cry.

Though he suggests otherwise, we suspect Mr Davis knows that such is the ‘informa fi dead culture’ deeply embedded in many communities; it is not “simple” to ‘shub out’ criminals.

People in such communities know that, as the situation now stands, the penalty, if they are even suspected of taking information to the authorities, could well be death. Also, many people have reason, based on hard experience, not to trust authority. Hence our unrepentant advocacy for proactive, mass mobilisation backed by social intervention, so that people will feel empowered, as part of a group, a team, rather than mere individuals, in the anti-crime fight.

We reiterate that we are not calling for vigilantism, but for upstanding citizens to be encouraged to stand together, partnering with police in citizens’ groups such as neighbourhood watches and other organisations for the greater good of all.

It’s well established that, in organised communities, criminality and social delinquency do not thrive.

As we have said repeatedly, any such anti-crime mobilisation must be bipartisan and inclusive at every level of public and private sector, churches, civil society, et al.

As Mr Davis said, “Unless we have all hands on deck, reading … the same page and line, and the same book, we will continue to be dogged by crime and violence.”

We note that even as he lamented a recent double murder in Flanker, St James, JLP councillor and Government Senator Mr Charles Sinclair spoke of the difference community action and social intervention had made in reducing crime and violence there. From 39 in one specific year, murders fell to zero in some years, Mr Sinclair said.

We consider praiseworthy Mr Davis’s suggestion for social workers to be assigned to police stations to help reduce the trust deficit and calm domestic disputes before they turn deadly.

We say again, that the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica’s $2 billion, five-year Project STAR (social transformation and renewal), set to target and assist troubled communities, can serve as a kind of template for the required community mobilisation.

We believe that if we can combine such community mobilisation with work by the security forces to capture and lock away criminals; legislative action to make crime too risky; and active support from the United States and other partners in stemming the flow of guns and ammunition, Jamaica will, over time, become a much safer place.

That’s a place that would render not only our heroes, but all well-thinking Jamaicans proud.