THE EDITOR, Sir:

RECENTLY I read with amazement where the executive chairman of the National Solid Waste Management announced that the solution for the impasse with the Riverton City Dump Co-operative was to set up a police command post to ensure the security of the dump. I feel compelled to denounce his insensitive and irresponsible call especially after listening to Assistant Commissioner Bent and Senior Superintendent Leon Rose of the Police Officers' Association, eloquently detailing the dramatic shortfall of resources necessary to enable the police force to carry out their duties effectively. My comments are as follows:

1) With so many murders in Jamaica, and the urgent and present need for command posts to be set up in several volatile areas, how could such a statement by the head of a Government organisation go unchallenged? How could an ignorant statement so widely reported go without comment from the political, business and NGO sectors?

2) Is it that since crime is the norm in our society it is O.K. to secure the city's garbage dump, rather than the citizens of Jamaica? I suggest that we think about the far-reaching effects as a people, that such an absurd and insensitive utterance can have at a time when the police don't have the resources or personnel to cope with the daily slaughtering of our people.

3) Finally I would not waste time calling for Alston Stewart, the executive chairman of National Solid Waste Management, to resign but rather to apologise to the families of those murdered and further to the people of Jamaica who are now seriously at risk and need protection.

I am, etc.,

DARYL VAZ

22 Hagley Park Road

Kingston 10

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