Jamaican Leaders Of All Stripes Continue To Misdiagnose Lawlessness…

DEPUTY Commissioner of Police (DCP) Clifford Blake yes­ter­day sup­port­ed leg­is­la­tion which will, among oth­er things, allow the police to declare spe­cial zones of oper­a­tions in volatile areas, but said it is time for social agen­cies to step up to the plate to sus­tain peace through devel­op­ment in these communities.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Clifford Blake cit­ed the lack of ade­quate sup­port from these agen­cies results in gangs often regroup­ing and erod­ing what­ev­er progress is made by the secu­ri­ty forces.

He was mak­ing the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF’s) sub­mis­sion to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament which is review­ing the Law Reform (Zones of Special Operations) (Special Security and Community Development Measures). The com­mit­tee is hear­ing sub­mis­sions from var­i­ous inter­est groups, with a view to hav­ing a report ready for Parliament in just over a week.

DCP Blake cit­ed the exam­ple of Barrett Town in St James, where the secu­ri­ty forces seized the oppor­tu­ni­ty to inter­vene, after sev­er­al gang mem­bers were killed. He said projects were sub­se­quent­ly iden­ti­fied to cre­ate long-term peace. http://​www​.jamaicaob​serv​er​.com/​n​e​w​s​/​d​e​a​l​-​d​e​p​u​t​y​-​c​o​m​m​i​s​s​i​o​n​e​r​-​s​a​y​s​-​m​o​r​e​-​p​o​l​i​c​i​n​g​-​n​o​t​-​t​h​e​-​a​n​s​w​e​r​_​1​0​2​6​6​1​?​p​r​o​f​i​l​e​=​1​606

There is a seri­ous dis­con­nect in the way Jamaicans see what is hap­pen­ing to the Island as it relates to crime.

That dis­con­nect is obvi­ous in the way the issue of law­less­ness is quan­ti­fied by the soci­ety, includ­ing the high com­mand of the Police Department.

As along as these Interest groups see the crip­pling instances of hor­rif­ic Murder and Terrorism as a WAR to be aid­ed by social inter­ven­tion the prob­lem will remain. Jamaica is not at war a‑la the 70’s to 80′ s.

Back then the motive for the killings was pol­i­tics. The rudi­ments have changed, since the 80’s ‚there has been a par­a­digm shift in the moti­va­tion behind the crime Jamaica expe­ri­ence today.

Much of the crime today is about per­son­al greed which fuels mur­der. This con­tin­ues because of acqui­es­cence and fear. People in Jamaica kill because they know the like­li­hood they will ulti­mate­ly be held account­able is next to nil, despite the num­ber of arrests cit­ed by DCP Blake. The soci­ety is not at war, it is in love with mur­der­ers and that’s the issue.