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Solving crime
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Dear Editor,
Henley Morgan is normally one of your more perceptive, articulate and readable columnists. However, he goes off the rails in his observations about Mark Shields and reflects the kind of confused thinking at the highest levels that militates against any improvement in the crime situation. ("Freudian slip or painful truth?", November 12.)
When a columnist of Morgan's stature appears to believe that the police - even Scotland Yard - can "solve" Jamaica's crime problem, it is no wonder the problem gets worse every day.
Certainly the police can "solve" a particular crime, although with 1600 murders a year there is no way Jamaica could ever afford the number of courts, judges, prosecutors, and police to make any appreciable dent in the problem. The society has been going down this blind alley for more than 30 years, relying on the police to "solve" crime in general. It's an exercise in futility as what the society really needs is to
"prevent" crime.
As numerous commentators have pointed out, "preventing"- or reducing - crime is not the function of the police. Several generators of Jamaica's crime have been identified over the years, but what it all boils down to is the breakdown of discipline in society. Restoring that discipline calls for tough leadership from government, media (especially electronic media), and schools. Who will bell the cat of Jamaica's indiscipline? Answer: No one. Everyone in an island that cherishes his or her "rights" and "freedom" to be undisciplined knows this.
Neither Mark Shields nor a police force 10 times the size of the one we have would ever be able to supply that which has been found wanting in these and other institutions that ought to be the bulwarks against indiscipline.
Errol Townshend
16 Turtledove Grove
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1X 2B2
ewat@rogers.com
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Dear Editor,
Henley Morgan is normally one of your more perceptive, articulate and readable columnists. However, he goes off the rails in his observations about Mark Shields and reflects the kind of confused thinking at the highest levels that militates against any improvement in the crime situation. ("Freudian slip or painful truth?", November 12.)
When a columnist of Morgan's stature appears to believe that the police - even Scotland Yard - can "solve" Jamaica's crime problem, it is no wonder the problem gets worse every day.
Certainly the police can "solve" a particular crime, although with 1600 murders a year there is no way Jamaica could ever afford the number of courts, judges, prosecutors, and police to make any appreciable dent in the problem. The society has been going down this blind alley for more than 30 years, relying on the police to "solve" crime in general. It's an exercise in futility as what the society really needs is to
"prevent" crime.
As numerous commentators have pointed out, "preventing"- or reducing - crime is not the function of the police. Several generators of Jamaica's crime have been identified over the years, but what it all boils down to is the breakdown of discipline in society. Restoring that discipline calls for tough leadership from government, media (especially electronic media), and schools. Who will bell the cat of Jamaica's indiscipline? Answer: No one. Everyone in an island that cherishes his or her "rights" and "freedom" to be undisciplined knows this.
Neither Mark Shields nor a police force 10 times the size of the one we have would ever be able to supply that which has been found wanting in these and other institutions that ought to be the bulwarks against indiscipline.
Errol Townshend
16 Turtledove Grove
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1X 2B2
ewat@rogers.com
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