THE EDITOR, Sir:

IT GIVES me no comfort that a person can now be detained for 72 hours without being charged, instead of 48 hours, as being proposed by Mr Golding. This is nothing but a recipe for, and a wink at, continued abuse by the police. If so-called human-rights activists see the latest plan as having no guarantee of catching criminals, why does the prospect of increased police abuse make them more comfortable?

What of treason?

The other point that needs to be explored is why the inclusion of treason as a serious crime. When last was someone charged with treason (a political crime) in Jamaica? Does this have anything to do with Mr Golding's plan to brush off the Terrorism Prevention Act (which he initially opposed, by the way) to find aspects of it that can be used in his crime plan.

Finally, since a distinction is being made between invasive versus non-invasive collection of DNA evidence, I wonder how many people would, as I do, regard someone else putting a cotton swab in their mouth as invasive?

I am, etc.,

LLOYD D'AGUILAR

lgdaguilar@yahoo.com

Via Go-Jamaica