THE EDITOR, Sir:
I CAN'T imagine that I am the only person that thinks that our attitude to crime is what is killing us. We have a problem, but the attitude that flings hands up in the air in desperation is annoying.
Here goes a solution. In the United States (sorry to call on that country again but it is an example) there is a special branch of psychiatry that deals with the type of personality that commits a particular crime (profiling I believe it is called). Identify the personality that commits the crimes we have problems with, then use our limited resources to target those persons. In the late '70s I was a teenager, so my vision may be slightly skewed but I do remember communities having a big say in how Government operated at that time.
Guess what, the time is here again, the need is now here to turn back the clock. The authorities that have the power and the knowledge have to get involved in a major way in the communities to see how the situation that leads to crime can be ameliorated.
The situation that breeds criminals is not a mystery, let us cut the wound open and expose the infection. Then we can begin to heal the wound. Notice that I have not said we need more police, and more equipment, what we need is more compassion, humanity, care, dare I say love for our fellow Jamaican.
Throwing police and employment at the problem won't solve the crime problem. We have to roll up our sleeves and do the work, make a choice and follow through on the decision.
THE MEDIA
Lastly and most importantly our media have the ability to be our collective conscience. The daily reports on crime in this country are causing mass depression and hysteria. Do you know that in certain hotels local newspapers and television stations are actively banned (a strong word but true) because it frightens tourists too much. This is ridiculous.
A solution, have one day where you print a black front page to reflect the crime, but place a silver star somewhere on the page to indicate hope. We need to get up and put plans into place that do not necessarily mean buying more guns and equipping our police like armed militias, but using community methods that have worked in the past and can work again. That is if we are serious about solving the problem and moving forward as a country.
I am, etc.,
CHRISTOPER GIVANS
cgivans@cwjamaica.com
