Director of Elections Danville Walker.- File

The Editor, Sir:

Permit me some space to reiterate a few points regarding the issue of the electoral fingerprint database and whether the database is available to the police for investigative services.

First, to give anyone access to this database for any purpose other than electoral would be against the law. Therefore, the police would be complicit in breaking the law by even accepting them. No sensible advocate in the fight against crime could suggest breaking the law and neither I nor anyone on my staff, or in my opinion, in the police command structure, would advocate breaking the law, no matter the perceived benefit. Full stop, argument done.

New discussion. National registration. We have been dithering about this for some time now. In fact, national registration, as proposed, would require that all persons are registered and that fingerprints would be taken.

Will this fingerprint database also be kept from the police? Would the passport office have access or would they have to build their own database also?

No one is suggesting that the police having access to a national fingerprint database would solve our crime problem.

No one is suggesting that if the police had all the police cars they wanted, or if they had better facilities, or if they had more ballistic or forensic equipment or bullet-proof vests, or if they were better paid so that they could have a stronger pool of candidates to choose policemen and women from, it would solve the crime problem.

No one is suggesting that any one thing will rescue us from this plague. But, maybe all of them and a few more things will get us in time. As grateful as we are, let not our recent success in crime reduction lull us into any sense of complacency or provide us with arguments that it is unnecessary for us to take even more aggressive proactive actions.

Our murder rate still rivals the American troop losses in Iraq.

Our electoral fingerprint database is safe. But let's have discussion. Let's take the necessary decisions to make this unsafe country safe, not just some parishes, all parishes, all constituencies. We deserve it. Our children deserve it.

I am, etc.,

DANVILLE WALKER

Director of Elections