Thursday's murder of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Gilbert Kameka has naturally had a devastating effect on the sense of security of the nation at large. It is not only the high rank of the murdered policeman that has created the tremendous impact, but also the time of day of the killing and the community in which he died.

Sunlight seems to magnify the sheer savagery of murder and, while the killing of Constable Valentino Chambers on Slipe Pen Road, Kingston, at about 1:30 a.m. on Thursday hit hard, it still seems almost surreal that ACP Kameka should be cut down in the middle of the day - and so close to the Irish Town Police Station, at that.

In addition, the brazenness of the attack is underscored by the fact that the main road through Irish Town has no turn-offs in the immediate vicinity. The road to Maryland and, eventually, Norbrook, is about three miles below and the turn-off to Middleton is about two miles above, so the criminals must have been extremely confident that they would not have been trapped by the security forces.

The community in which the murder of the highest- ranking police officer ever to be killed in Jamaica took place also adds to the sense of incredulity. Irish Town is one of those communities which have a sense of remoteness from the sometimes arbitrary violence of the city, an aura enhanced by the exotic, idyllic ambience around the Strawberry Hill hotel and the industry of coffee production, embodied by Craighton Estate.

While a single incident, even one of the magnitude of ACP Kameka's murder, does not instantly change the reputation of a community and mindset of its residents, for many years to come the name 'Irish Town' will be instantly linked with Thursday's killing.

And that death in the hills signifies the pervasive spread of violence from now accustomed Kingston communities into areas which once felt nearly immune to the thunder of firearms breaking the calm of routine, daily life.

In a wider context, Messrs Chambers and Kameka were the 17th and 18th police officers to be murdered for the year, respectively, and two of 12 persons to be killed on Thursday. We have, unfortunately, got used to the steady march of the murder statistics towards still unknow but the number of policemen who converged on Irish Town after Kameka's murder indicates, perhaps, that we have not lost our capacity for feeling.

In the end, though, what we require is a solution, or even the sense of a workable plan, for the reduction of murder. With the number of illegal weapons which are in the country, as well as increased mobility due to the influx of motor vehicles, there is no quick fix. However, the long-term planning which is required must not only begin promptly but must be publicised to give assurance to a nation traumatised by a death in the hills.

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