THE EDITOR, Sir:
I read with interest the two-part series on looking at Police Complaints Authorities in Jamaica and England by your Senior Associate Editor Lloyd Williams. I would like to implore Mr. Williams to do a comparative series in countries that are in the same socio-economic group as ourselves. Not that it isn't important to use the British system as an ideal example, but many will argue that Britain is a first world country with almost inexhaustible resources that we do not have, hence the comparison is like that of apples and oranges.
I was particularly impressed with the area concerning "Restorative Justice", however I would like to suggest that we concern ourselves more with what I would term "Predictive and Preventative Justice". When our citizens report simple infractions if the police will deal with these disagreements promptly and effectively, the escalating crime rate would be greatly reduced; instead people are told to "come back when him kill somebody, we can't waste time on minor offences".
Journalist John Maxwell quoted the late President John F. Kennedy who said, "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich". Even with the help of a thousand Reneto Adams, we will not be able to prove John F. Kennedy wrong.
Journalists Hugh Crosskill and Cliff Hughes had to drag answers from Audley Shaw concerning the problems the JLP will face should they form the next Government and why he didn't level with the Jamaican people in his budget presentation. His so-called co-operative agreement involving government, private sector and citizenry will not work. Mr. Manley tried it early in the seventies and had to turn to Democratic Socialism. Mr. Seaga tried it and even Mr. Patterson tried it, using the Private Sector as the "engine of growth". It will not work because unlike Trinidadians and Barbadians we simply do not trust each other. Those better off see the poor more as a threat than as partners.
We need to ask ourselves, are we "Children of a lesser God?" History is replete with examples of countries with vast natural resources deposits, gold, silver, oil etc. but because of a lack of co-operation and trust end up mired in poverty, war and high crime rates. We need not just be leaders, but statesmen who are willing to lose power in order to ensure a future for the next generation, or are we caught in one massive "Partner Plan" wherein we contribute but will never get a draw.
I am, etc.,
MARK CLARKE
Frome, Westmoreland
