Concomitantly with the formal announcement of police chief, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin's withdrawal last week of his surprise resignation, Prime Minister Bruce Golding told Jamaicans about the completion of a strategic review of the constabulary, which is to form the basis of an overhaul of the police force.

The report was commissioned last year by the previous administration and is the fifth, and perhaps most comprehensive, aimed at a formula for fixing what, by every objective measure, is a bad organisation: one that is largely ineffective in crime prevention and detection, lacking in trust, low in prestige and riddled with corruption. So, everyone is agreed that something has to be done.

What is not clear, however, is just how far the new administration is willing to go and the amount of political capital it is willing to expend on this project. Indeed, Mr Golding and his security minister, Colonel Trevor MacMillan, have been saying the right things. Mostly!

Broadly welcoming

However, the prime minister will understand the reservation of some people on his statement in Parliament last week that the administration, while broadly welcoming of the report, had not accepted all its recommendations. The problem here is not that all the recommendations ought to be embraced by the Government; although we see very few that are not worthy.

The issue is whether the administration arrived at an a priori position on the matter in the absence of a public dialogue and debate.

Indeed, the document has been published, implicit in which is the assumption that the Government expects the public's response to its findings. Moreover, the prime minister did say that he expects the input of the various stakeholders, in and outside the Jamaica Constabulary Force. We expected, therefore, a formal process of consultation on the document to have begun with the Police Federation, the Police Officers Association as well as human rights and other civil society groups before any definitive positions were staked out. In that regard, rejection of any specific recommendation would, in our view, be premature.

In the circumstance, we feel it incumbent on the prime minister to indicate, publicly, which of the recommendations do not sit comfortably with his administration so that this could help to inform a frank debate.

Crisis of violent criminality

The point is that Jamaica faces a crisis of violent criminality which is having a profoundly negative impact on the country's development. And its major crime-fighting institution is decrepit and moribund. Its repair will demand hard, and often, unpopular effort.

Indeed, the authors of the report, in their acknowledgement of the broad sweep of the undertaking, leave no doubt about its difficulty. It is an effort that will demand broad national consensus.

Should we fail now, it is unlikely that there will be another window anytime soon for a relatively orderly overhaul of the constabulary, as difficult as the task still is. Later, the demand may be to pry, forcefully, the constabulary out of the firm and insistent control of the corrupt and their cohorts.

Of importance, also, is the fact that in Commissioner Lewin, there is now a man at the helm who appears up to the task; he is both tough and cerebrally inclined. It is a job that demands urgency, yet it has to be conducted in transparency.