According to the (JCF) Jamaica Constabulary Force’s reporting on major crimes, there has been a sharp increase in homicides, 27% to be exact in the Parish of Saint James over the corresponding period last year.
This reporting comes a mere day after the police reported a 10% drop in major crimes across the board. Last year St.James recorded 210 murders, the parish has seen 103 persons killed between January 1 and last weekend. This despite the addition of over 200 police personnel deployed to the parish to stem the rising crime rate.
According to the JCF statistics, St James is one of seven police divisions that have reported increased murders so far this year. The others are St Ann, which saw a 39 per cent jump; St Mary, which reported a 25 per cent increase; Clarendon, which had a 23 per cent jump; Trelawny, which recorded a 13 per cent increase; St Andrew Central, which had a four per cent increase; and Westmoreland, which recorded a three per cent increase.
In a 180 degree turn the police also report a two per cent decline nationally in the number of persons reported killed. It shows that 492 murders have been recorded across all 19 police divisions, 10 fewer than the 502 recorded for the corresponding period last year. Except for shootings, which inched up by five per cent, the JCF statistics also show that all other categories of serious and violent crime have decreased by between 18 and 40 per cent.
This is where the rubber meets the road I believe this is profound to those who follow crime trends in Jamaica. Despite a slightly lower number of dead people across the board nationally , more people have actually gotten shot .They have simply not died as a result of being shot.
What do we attribute that to but luck?
Minister of National Security Robert Montague argues “Police Commissioner Dr Carl Williams and his team should be credited for the fall-off in serious crimes but cautioned against complacency. “It is inescapable that the yeoman efforts of the force, with limited resources, have finally begun to bear fruit. It’s early days, and much more needs to be done. And the commissioner and his team will now renew their efforts in making Jamaica the preferred place to work, invest, live, and retire,”.
As Jamaicans who love our country and want a country free from crime I believe we can all associate with the pipe-dream of the minister but it is only that thus far a lofty dream, unattainable in the present environment.
The JCF must learn to adapt to the realities of being asked to reduce crime in a criminally complicit society, one in which not even the judges on the bench believe fully in what it takes to have a nation of laws.
It must also learn to micro-target crime and criminals, cutting off the heads before they metastasize.
The department has steadfastly maintained that the lotto-scam is to be blamed for the extraordinarily high rate of homicides and shootings in the Island>
I am tempted to believe there may be some merit to those assertions as it relates to Saint James alone but that’s it.
If lotto-scamming is the issue then micro-target scammers. Know the head , know the shoulder , know the legs then embark on a systematic process of decapitation of the monster. prove to us you not only know the reason for the murder numbers but you have the capacity to do something about it.
If the efforts of the police were responsible for the slight drop in homicides across the board why would the sustained concentration of over 200 officers to the single parish of Saint James not elicit the same result or better?
Conceivably it makes sense to simply chalk up the slightly lower number of dead people to luck, particularly since more people have been shot and shot at.
The police can do all they can but unless the nation displays a significantly different attitude than it’s present embrace of criminals, placing an officer on ever street corner will not change a single thing.
This was exactly what prompted my response yesterday in which I questioned the metric used in arriving at these lower numbers.
The addition of 200 more chairs to a sinking Titanic will not stop the Titanic from going under. The Nation’s laws are archaic (zero deterrent effect)> The Nation is far too liberal in it’s concern for criminals. There is far too much concern for those who commit crimes as against those who are victims of crime. There is no national will to eradicate crime. Too many powerful people are heavily invested in crime. The entire justice system is inept, incompetent and corrupt.
There needs to be a national strategy which assiduously and strategically targets criminals, those who aid, abet, and engage in criminal conduct. This must be done through appropriate legislation. We must stop listening to trial lawyers, dirty politicians and the hordes of vultures who make a living tearing down the rule of law while hiding behind human rights.
The most fundamental right given man is the right to life by his creator. Doesn’t it seem strange that those who purport to defend human rights only defend the rights of killers but never have a kind word for the victims and their families?
How much longer can a society continue to be ignorant-sheep used and abused by those who benefit from crime and poverty yet suffer none of it’s attendant consequences?
Police cannot reduce crime while Government sits on the sidelines and civil society does everything in it’s power to empower criminals.
Until this approach is undertaken they can continue to piss in the wind.