THE EDITOR, Sir:
DESPITE THE recent short-term advances made by Operation Kingfish to counter violent crime in Jamaica and the indebtedness owed to those who risk their lives in the capacity of law enforcement officers, I submit that the only means of developing a long-term sustainable solution for combating such crime is to create a system to foster greater citizen participation in the process.
Notwithstanding the stereotyped portrayals on television programming which show forensics and sophisticated models of police intelligence-gathering as typical in fighting crime, it should be noted that crime is overwhelmingly solved by information gathered and disseminated by the real gatekeepers of the justice system, which includes victims, bystanders, witnesses and other individuals who are privy to information that can be used to convict perpetrators, as opposed to any exceptional or creative process implemented by the police.
The academic literature cites that the major factor determining whether individuals refrain from contacting the police is based more on their negative attitudinal perceptions of the police as being unable or corruptively unwilling to competently utilise information, than on the severity of the crime itself. Citizen participation in the criminal justice system in Jamaica is severely undermined by the lack of protection offered to the informants in the context of donmanship and reprisal in a small society with structural limitations and weaknesses, for a workable system of adequate witness protection.
The situation may be described as a cycle, consisting of three elements, namely: (1) the negative perception of the police or fear of reprisal for supplying information, which leads to (2) less citizen participation, which limits (3) the ability of the police to solve crime, which supports the original negative perception of police or fear to close the cycle's loop.
Accordingly, based on the assumptions that the police will competently utilise information and the courts will prosecute and render the appropriate sentencing for guilty persons, the only solution to break the cycle of crime is to focus like a laser beam on creating a system that: (1) fosters greater participation by significantly increasing incentives for individuals to supply information and, most importantly, (2) provides greater protection of these individuals.
I am, etc.,
A. BROWN
brown.ant@gmail.com
Manchester
Via Go-Jamaica
