Crime is a problem in many nations , it feeds on poverty and poor socio-economic conditions.
Most of all however, crime feeds on acquiescence !!!
Nowhere is this more evident than in my country Jamaica.
It boggles the mind it defies logic, it makes no discernible sense.
Crime increases in Jamaica on an annual basis, what does the Government do? It proposes to pass laws which further enhances the growth of crime and criminal networks.
This is becoming the modus operandi of the JLP which drafted the INDECOM Act with the collusion of the Opposition PNP and passed that bad law. They did not even bother to get the views of the parties the INDECOM Act is supposed to oversee.
They never sought the input of the police , military, nor the corrections departments when they considered the legislation.
As a consequence, the Law Bruce Golding and his cohorts cobbled together with the blessings of the opposition party has been an undeniable significant driver of crime.
Notwithstanding, the Government refuses to repeal the law doubling down on it instead ‚even as it pretend to search for clues to the Island’s burgeoning crime problem.
It is not by accident that the English speaking Caribbean has an inordinately high crime rate as compared to the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
There is a legitimate argument to be made for the high crime rate in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana as compared to the British or US Virgin Islands , or even Barbados , a small Island nation with a small population and a Government which takes a decidedly more intelligent no-nonsense approach to crime.
When we compare the British and US virgin Islands, Barbados and the more regimented Cuba, we may extrapolate from their crime statistics that crime is a factor in the Island Nations which have weak , corrupt and criminally acquiescent Governments.
These weak Governmental structures and their lack of will to effectively deal with the core issues of crime have placed several Spanish speaking countries in the Americas at the top of the list of most deadly and violent places in the world along with the English speaking Caribbean nations of which Jamaica and Trinidad are a part.
Some Nations are actually determined to find ways to fix their crime problem, others seemingly are taking steps to further cement crime into the everyday operations of their nations.
Trinidad which had about 351 homicides in 2012 is now acknowledging that it has a problem which needs urgent remedial action. Guyana in 2012 recorded 135 killings.
In 2014 Barbados recorded 25 homicides. The British Virgin Islands had 2 in 2006. The Cayman Islands had a grand total of 8 in 2009. Haiti with a population of 10.32 million people, a country seemingly in a constant state of war had a grand total of 1033 homicides in 2012. Puerto Rico with a full million more people than Jamaica saw a total of 681 murders in 2014.
Jamaica averages 100 per month , over twelve hundred each year.In 2005 the Island recorded in excess of 1600 homicides.
Trinidad’s National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said his government believes a more “direct and strategic approach” is required to deal with the situation in Central Trinidad where rival gangs have been engaged in reprisal killings.
As part of that strategy the minister said his Government would place a police station in the center of the affected area.
Additionally , the Minister said his government believes that time is now, the place is Enterprise and the force will be one of utilizing all agencies of national security to deal with issues of crime.
Conversely , with one of the most astronomically high homicide rates, and clear escalation in the weaponry in the hands of criminals, the Jamaican Government is proposing new legislation which on the face of it looks like a crime bill, but is another police hampering, crime escalation piece of legislation.
There will be no reduction in the homicide rate in Jamaica anytime soon.
The Special Security and Community Development Measures Act, 2017 , being tabled by the Jamaican Government is not a bill which if passed into law will do anything to alleviate the Island’s runaway murder rate.
What it is ‑is political cover which will shield the Government from any fallout when the security forces are forced to confront the Island’s vicious killers.
Jamaica has a love affair with crime and criminals . Many well placed and well connected people are actively engaged in crime.
The Government of the United States has systematically revoked visas to many of those same people, some in civil society and even those in the two political parties.
Political power is determined by who have scarce resources to dole out . Crime and corruption is rife at all levels of the society including the Government. No sector is immune from the stench.
What the Jamaican Government is doing with crime today is to ask the security forces to once again take the risks to bring crime under control as they were asked in 2010, only to hold hearings to find ways to imprison and embarrass them.
In addressing crime the Jamaican Prime Minister made not a single mention of dead cops, assaulted cops or the entry of grenades into the arsenals of the criminal underworld.
Conversely as the murder rate rockets out of control Andrew Holness said this.
Quote :“When we designed this (security measure), we have actually written into the law an accountability framework and we have made it an offence for the officers not to follow the accountability framework.”
This is not a bill designed to eradicate Jamaica’s dangerous and murderous criminal gangs. It is legislation designed to give political cover to the Government against criticisms it is not doing anything about the scourge of crime.
The Administration nevertheless has no qualms about creating a law which will ensnare the police for doing their jobs as they did when they gave the country INDECOM.
The Police Federation has no clue .…..