IT IS earnestly to be hoped that the attack by gunmen on tourists staying at a hotel in Negril in which a gardener was shot dead and a security guard wounded, is not going to be another chapter in the unfolding drama of crime and violence in Jamaica. Tourism at the best of times is a fragile industry, subject to changing perceptions and fads; and international news about tourists being attacked in one of our premier resort areas can have a devastating effect on an industry just beginning to recover from the September 11, 2001 tragedy in New York and Washington.
Equally alarming is the reported slow response of the police to the emergency. No contact was possible with the local station and the call for help had to be routed through Montego Bay. Such inefficiency, although not surprising in light of how stretched the Force now is, will be a sore point with the predominantly British tourists who were relieved by the bandits of some $50,000 in cash and jewellery.
Unpaid telephone bills at police stations, resulting in service being disconnected, cannot be allowed to continue although this may not have been a factor in the Negril attack. The Government has a responsibility to honour the debts of its Ministries and satellite divisions to private sector companies and, as an internal matter, see to it that the use of telephones at police stations for private or unnecessarily long calls is not abused.
At the most fundamental level, there is need for more and better trained police personnel. As we have previously pointed out, the Jamaican police establishment, compared with other countries of similar size, should number about 10,000 rather than the present 7,000. Some amount of under-staffing has been admitted by Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security, and we note that he has announced plans to reform the Jamaica Defence Force, a move which could have some bearing on its supporting role in regular law enforcement.
Even as ordinary Jamaicans citizens cringe in fear of being murdered, the authorities need to pay attention to upgrading security arrangements in resort areas because, if the tourist industry becomes a victim of crime, the entire economy will suffer and our last state will be worse than the first.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
