THE EDITOR, Sir:
I BELIEVE the media erred when it televised the picture of a member of the police force crying and admitting being fearful.
No one can deny that what is happening in our country is frightening, nor can we deny that we have been allowing our decent policemen and women to perform their duties under the most difficult conditions, thus giving justification for fear.
The difficulty I have is that, by simple logic, one can conclude that if fear has contributed to us being in this quagmire of crime, then the more we entertain fear and publicly acknowledge it, the more we yield to the lawless elements of our society.
Our country's enemies know that as long as the law-abiding persons are fearful, even if they are arrested by the police, they will not be convicted because people are afraid to testify against them. The power of the enemies is multiplied when we increase our fear.
I believe that the media has a role in helping people to banish fear so that we can deal effectively with this monster called crime.
Showing a female officer crying and declaring fear certainly does not help in liberating us from the debilitating grasp of fear.
A question from that telecast is: if things have reached a stage that even persons who are trained to deal with the enemies are now afraid, how much more can the common citizens stand?
Let us strive to find ways to get our people to bravely stand up against the forces of evil and report what they know. Let us strive for the banishment of fear.
I am, etc.,
NEILSON ANDERSON
May Pen, Clarendon
