THE EDITOR, Sir:

I, too, wish the new police commissioner success.

His statements about crime being multifaceted, requiring more than policing alone to contain it are true, and have been for many years.

We have long known that the roots of violence run deep in certain areas, and that non-violent or white-collar crime, though given less prominence in the media, is no less damaging to national well-being.

Is the leadership needed to frame the national consensus against crime finally about to emerge? Are we, at last, prepared to pay the price for the necessary 'multifaceted interventions? '

Punish them

Not everyone might be so prepared. As appalling as it might seem, it is possible that influential persons and/or groups benefit from the current state of affairs and might wish that it continue.

Have these stakeholders abandoned these interests? We need to identify and punish them, or else be prepared to achieve little.

It doesn't take genius to recognise that somebody is paying for the weaponry so easily available to criminals. It is also widely believed that in Jamaica, rich men don't go to jail.

How then will these 'big men' be brought to book? Perhaps more pointedly, don't we know at least some of them? We should, as they have been at their nefarious endeavours for many years.

As if these problems aren't big enough, the police acknowledge widespread corruption in their midst.

Jamaica has a real crime problem that it can ill afford to underestimate. The cry of lack of resources from the police in the face of this withering assault cannot go unanswered.

It is time for national focus on solutions to the crime problem and, this time, there should be no untouchables.

I am, etc.,

MICHAEL R. NICHOLSON

P.O. Box 5171

Kingston 6