Ian Boyne

Jamaica's low social capital, particularly its low levels of trust and consensus-building, remains a primary obstacle to fighting crime successfully. The Government and the Opposition, for example, should be working much more closely in a more structured and united way to fight crime.

But this will be dismissed as hopelessly naïve and idealistic, especially in an election year - which is precisely when that co-operation is most needed. The matter of trust works both ways. One could criticise the Government for not bringing the Opposition more intimately into security plans. But can the Government really trust the Opposition to keep the confidences in such sensitive matters?

Would representatives of the Opposition hold resolutely and with absolute honour all the confidential matters which the Government would disclose to them in the national interest? No political party is going to be suicidal and no Government is going to take chances with the country's national security - or should not - by bringing people into the loop who cannot be absolutely trusted. And unless the Government is convinced that the Opposition puts the interest of the country above those of its party, then one would have to sympathise with its reluctance to go too far with the Opposition in discussing sensitive security strategies.

Also, the Opposition might not see it in its interest to give its best advice to the Government. Why should the Opposition give its best advice and expertise to a Government which might use that advice to successful outcomes, thus earning the praise of the people, in an election year? The Opposition is not suicidal either! Yet the need exists for closer collaboration on security issues.

If we are in a national crisis where security is concerned, then we have to deepen cooperation between Government and Opposition - PNP and JLP - recognising the power they have on the ground and the intelligence available to them.

We have never calculated the real costs of our low-trust, low-consensus society. And we can't be naïve either by making recommendations which are unrealistic and impracticable in our context. Parties are elected to govern and there are certain prerogatives of Government. They are under no obligation to share those with any group. They do so only at their own discretion and to their best judgment. If governments operate in a hostile, cut-throat and intensely tribalistic political culture, they would be foolish to take into their confidence people who are not committed to the highest ethical principles and who do not put nation above party.

So it's no use urging them to take steps which are irrational. You now see the conundrum we are in. So what is urgently needed is to build trust and to reduce the tribalism in the society. But even in the interim, the Government can rationally calculate that the level of threat from the criminals and terrorists is so high that it is better to build a stronger relationship with the Opposition than to bear the costs of business as usual.

criminals on the loose

If the Opposition cannot be trusted on all the sensitive issues which could possibly be discussed, then make a start somewhere. It will have both an important symbolic and practical effect. The criminals, including those who support the PNP and the JLP, need to sense that the parties are serious about abandoning them. But can the parties risk alienating all the criminals associated with them in an election year? They will have to decide. Both of them want electoral power and both need to understand that the support of criminal elements will continue to be an albatross around their neck. There might be nothing to inherit for the JLP if the criminals continue to run loose and to murder at will. And the PNP's hold on power will be tenuous as long as criminals and terrorists can migrate between communities to carry out their rule by terror.

Trust is critically important. Genuine trust, not mere symbolic gestures of trust. For even if the political leaders of the PNP and the JLP lock themselves in a room for a show for the cameras and the international community, if they don't really trust one another and are second-guessing one another, we won't make any progress. They will have to trust and be trustworthy if the collaboration is to work.

Gov't getting things right

The Government is already getting a number of things right in crime-fighting. The statistics showed that last year they achieved an appreciable decrease in crime. The Government is spending in this fiscal year almost as much as it has spent in the last nearly quarter of a century in improving the justice system. A comprehensive review of the justice system is being undertaken. Important legislation is being put in place. Steps have been taken to deal with police corruption, to increase the quality of intelligence-gathering, to better equip the police force, to refurbish police stations and to boost recruitment and training.

A lot of positive moves are being made by the ministries of National Security and Justice. the Citizens Security and Justice Programme, which the Government is implementing in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (with financing of US$18.5 million), represents a creative and integrated approach to crime-fighting. Unfortunately, the media ignored the substance of the programme last week when they covered its first awards banquet for community activists, focusing instead on what the politicians had to say about not endorsing election violence.

This programme has a number of elements, but a most interesting element is the community focus. Fifteen inner-city communities have been targeted for special attention and remediation. According to a programme document, the Citizens Security and Justice Programme is to help these inner-city communities to "build their personal and collective capacities to refrain from involvement in violent or criminal activities."

The major elements of the community aspect of the programme concern the delivery of violence prevention services by the non-governmental organisations; improvement of community facilities; improvement in police/community relations; strengthening of the community-based organisations and the sourcing of employment, training and other forms of support - including parental and conflict resolution skills to - residents. This is very laudable.

Besides, there is a whole programme for institutional strengthening of the ministries and a focus on the justice system as well as the beefing up of crime-fighting capabilities. So things are happening. Those who say the Government is doing nothing are either woefully ignorant or just

playing abominably cheap politics. I do not accept that the Government does not have the political will to deal with crime. Speculation is not evidence.

But the Government will need to deepen its consensus-building not only with international agencies, NGOs and civil society in tackling the crime monster. It must deepen its cooperation with the Opposition, too. True, it might not be able to go as far as it could because of the trust factor. But the level of cooperation can be better than it is now.

At the very least, look at the positive proposals in the Roadmap to a Safe and Secure Jamaica, known as the JLP crime report, chaired by now Senator Trevor MacMillan. Forget that it was coordinated by MacMillan or commissioned by the JLP.

I know the Government is already doing a number of things contained in the report. But the suggestion from the MacMillan report to establish an executive agency "with cross-cutting authority" to "bring the various actors inside and outside Government together for collaborative action and to mobilise resources both locally and internationally" is an excellent one whose implementation would stand the country in good stead. We should use good ideas for the national good, from whichever source it emanates.

Granted the report is unnecessarily incendiary and reckless in some parts, but ignore that and accentuate the positives. When you are digging for gold, you have to encounter a lot of dirt. If gold diggers were to be turned off by dirt, they would never mine any gold.

The Observer also had an excellent editorial on Monday titled, "To Truly Defeat Criminals ..." In this thoughtful editorial, the Observer calls for united national action in fighting crime. "It is not enough to leave the delivery of the message about increased awareness and anti-crime pro-activity to the police. For example, as part of the long-term drive to combat crime, the message that we are our brother's keeper; that the cocaine vendor on the corner is really our enemy and that the security forces, including the young policeman on the beat, are there to help and protect us must be weaved into the school curriculum at every opportunity".

But the media must do their part. They have to weigh carefully how they slant the news or how the report anti-police charges and demonstrations. I am not talking about suppressing those kinds of news. I am talking about sensitively reporting on them. The media should be careful not to deepen the public cynicism about the police or to whip up people's emotions against them.

The media should do more reporting on the positive role models in the police force, not just giving front-page attention to corrupt cops, of whom there are too many. We know about that already. We don't know enough about the good cops and their deeds. Let's hear more of them. Let's read more features about them and see them on prime-time television.

The Observer is bang in its editorial: "From the church pulpits; from the political platforms; from the disc jockeys on radio and elsewhere; from every available avenue of communication, the message must go out that all of us are in this fight against criminals in partnership with the security forces." Well put, Observer.

The startlingly positive turnaround by gun hawk lyricist Vybz Kartel, who in a letter has publicly renounced his former ways and has called on fellow artistes to join the rest of us in fighting crime, is most welcome.

Again I agree with the Observer that "we must make it absolutely clear that those who condemn 'informers" are themselves no better than the social deviants to be ostracised." The dancehall must be cleaned up, not excused.

We have to put aside our culturally-honed skills at divisiveness to fight crime successfully.

Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist who may be contacted at ianboyne1@yahoo.com