SSP Diaries | Crime and future political administrations

WE ARE fast approaching another general election in Jamaica, one in which promises will be made on how each party seeking power will make our nation the safest place on earth.

Listening for over six decades and living the reality, there is one phrase that constantly comes to mind, ‘A promise is a comfort to a fool’. Our reality is one in which crime has gotten progressively worse each year, except for a few, and the utterances of politicians have either not lived up to expectations, or merely fuelled increases in crime statistics. The trend proves that we have, over time, been applying the same treatment to the problem and expecting different and better results. Utter madness!

It is not difficult to see that the community ‘don’ who became the area don is back again and has become an established and controlling figure in the minds of many. This phenomenon continues to contribute to societal decay. The killing of two such persons in recent times sent the usual shock waves throughout society as their constituents issued threats, blocked roads, set buildings afire, and severely disrupted the lawful movements of the innocent in society. Their actions brought the usual condemnation and promises from our political leadership, the things we have become so accustomed to hearing over the years that when we do, all it amounts to is ‘same old, same old’.

CONTROL THE BEAST

Sadly, as per each pre-election period, crime will rear its ugly head again, the statistics are likely to spike, and the police will have to bear the burden of explaining once again why they cannot control the beast. In all fairness to them, they continue to bear the cross of ‘scapegoatism’ as best they can.

How much longer can this nation continue to bury its head in the sand? As far-fetched as it may be, our leaders need to be brought to the table to devise a 30-year plan that seeks to address crime in a holistic manner. It must be an agreed strategy that has all political colours on board, one that will be continued beyond the life of administrations and addresses the problem in all its aspects. This will call for appropriate social interventions, with the implementation being controlled at the highest level of government with appropriate provisions for evaluations, measurements, accountability, validity, etc.

It may be disappointing to some, but to normalise the at-risk in society, they will need to be treated as human beings in order to change mindsets. It means that they must be formally engaged in the process, dispensing with the ‘them and us’ syndrome. This is not a government-alone initiative, but one that involves everyone in society. It requires incentivising the private sector to provide jobs. It must speak to education, the lack of which helps to fuel the disturbing crime trends that have wreaked, and continue to wreak, havoc in society. It requires the enforcement of laws and even instituting some that may seem draconian, severely restricting freedoms, if the nation is to begin the turnaround to normality. We are too far gone to expect that the future we all desire is going to be achieved in any other way. Rational measures alone will not correct the irrational in our country.

GLOBAL PROBLEM

Open your eyes, Mr Politician and all well-thinking citizens. What we are experiencing is a part of a larger global problem. We must do our part to create the desired environment in our country before crime engulfs us as it has done in our neighbouring Haiti, where the area don has become a national figure with designs on taking over and running the country. We were almost there in recent history.

The more we continue with the fractured approach to fighting crime in this country, the more such a situation is likely to occur. If we do nothing else right this time around, let us commit to getting our political leadership to embark upon a unified path to dealing with crime in Jamaica. The era of false political promises to garner votes should be over for all those that mean our nation well.

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