Cop Among 13 Killed On Bloody Emancipation Weekend

[Mosiah]

COP AMONG 13 KILLED ON BLOODY EMANCIPATION WEEKEND
by Kimmo Matthews, Observer staff reporter
Monday, August 03, 2009

Gunmen yesterday morning shot dead a 56-year-old policeman and injured his son, 25, in the parish of Westmoreland. The killing was one of 13 reported over a bloody Emancipation Day weekend.

Dead is special corporal Anthony Simpson, attached to the Savanna-La-Mar Police station. His injured son was not identified.

Police reports are that about 12:15 am, the cop and his son were sitting in his (cop's) motor car in an area known as Station Road when they were approached by three men.

http://jamaicaobserver.com/news/html...ON_WEEKEND.asp

[Mosiah]

Meanwhile, the minister of national security chooses to beat up him gum carelessly and remain with a plan to curtail this mayhem.

[Don1]

Meanwhile, the minister of national security chooses to beat up him gum carelessly and remain with a plan to curtail this mayhem.

The only effective "crime plan" has to involve all of society.
Jamaica's crime problem is only a symptom of our poor social capital.. babylon cyaan fix dat.... GOJ has to lead all of society to build social capital.... unfortunately both parties are hopelessly stuck in the old, dead partisan paradigm that paralyses all of us.

When the powers that be realize this... then we can collectively begin to craft a long term solution to crime and real human development.

Until dat day... dawg ah guh nyam wi suppa... wedda Bruce, Portia, Phillips or whichever flavour of the day is at the control tower.

[Karl]

COP AMONG 13 KILLED ON BLOODY EMANCIPATION WEEKEND
by Kimmo Matthews, Observer staff reporter
Monday, August 03, 2009

Gunmen yesterday morning shot dead a 56-year-old policeman and injured his son, 25, in the parish of Westmoreland. The killing was one of 13 reported over a bloody Emancipation Day weekend.

Dead is special corporal Anthony Simpson, attached to the Savanna-La-Mar Police station. His injured son was not identified.

Police reports are that about 12:15 am, the cop and his son were sitting in his (cop's) motor car in an area known as Station Road when they were approached by three men.

http://jamaicaobserver.com/news/html...ON_WEEKEND.asp

Station Road I know is in Little London!
Terrible!
When will the authorities get a handle on this?

[Historian]

"Emancipation Weekend!" Extremely Ironic!

The only effective "crime plan" has to involve all of society.
Jamaica's crime problem is only a symptom of our poor social capital.. babylon cyaan fix dat.... GOJ has to lead all of society to build social capital.... unfortunately both parties are hopelessly stuck in the old, dead partisan paradigm that paralyses all of us.

When the powers that be realize this... then we can collectively begin to craft a long term solution to crime and real human development.

Until dat day... dawg ah guh nyam wi suppa... wedda Bruce, Portia, Phillips or whichever flavour of the day is at the control tower.

Don1, I most certainly agree with you on all of the points you’ve stated in the post above. There can be absolutely no question that it is of crucial importance that we begin to engage “all of society” in dealing with this crime monster. To tell you the truth, there’s hardly a day when I don’t wonder why on earth haven’t the Jamaican government, the leadership of the security forces and indeed the more prominent players in civil society not yet started to make obvious and tangible moves in this regard.

Looking at this weekend’s crime spree, however, I suspect that where you and I will probably always disagree, unfortunately, is on the matter of whether or not Jamaica is approaching that stage where we will be classified as a “failed state” in the same way that Haiti, Somalia, etc. have been classified.

In a very relevant post you made in the past, you listed an exhaustive set of criteria why Jamaica cannot be listed as a “failed state.” I agreed fully with your set of criteria, and I still do, simply because you were correct! So we are on the same track in accepting that the state agencies, government arms (for example, our judiciary), and socio-economic factors that would make it incorrect to classify Jamaica as a “failed state” are there, as you stated. Therefore, we have to agree that in effect, Jamaica today is NOT a failed state.

Where we differ, however, is over my personal view that Jamaica is rapidly approaching a socio-political and economic abyss. In other words, how well and how adequately are our state agencies, etc. functioning in response to the urgent needs of our society? We see that the hierarchy of the executive and legislative branches of government is not providing us with adequate, meaningful solutions to our social (crime is almost completely out of control), economic (the move back to the IMF says a lot) and political problems! As far as the third branch of government, the judiciary, is concerned, that branch urgently needs to be modernized in a context of back-logged cases.

I’ll end this rather lengthy viewpoint by once again saying that, at this rate, it cannot be long before Jamaica becomes officially a “failed state.” Each morning when I read Guyana’s Stabroek newspaper (and to a lesser extent the government-owned, politically influenced Guyana Chronicle), I realize that the proud nation of Guyana cannot be far from “failed state” status. Jamaica, I feel, is not far behind.

Don1, I sincerely hope that I am 100-percent incorrect in the pessimism I outlined above, but when I get out of bed in the morning and see a headline such as “13 Killed on Emancipation Weekend” in a tiny nation state like Jamaica, I have reasons enough to be pessimistic!

And notice the historical irony of it all: This happened on “Emancipation weekend”!!

[Muadib]

It takes cash to care...

[Don1]

Don1, I most certainly agree with you on all of the points you’ve stated in the post above. There can be absolutely no question that it is of crucial importance that we begin to engage “all of society” in dealing with this crime monster. To tell you the truth, there’s hardly a day when I don’t wonder why on earth haven’t the Jamaican government, the leadership of the security forces and indeed the more prominent players in civil society not yet started to make obvious and tangible moves in this regard.

Looking at this weekend’s crime spree, however, I suspect that where you and I will probably always disagree, unfortunately, is on the matter of whether or not Jamaica is approaching that stage where we will be classified as a “failed state” in the same way that Haiti, Somalia, etc. have been classified.

In a very relevant post you made in the past, you listed an exhaustive set of criteria why Jamaica cannot be listed as a “failed state.” I agreed fully with your set of criteria, and I still do, simply because you were correct! So we are on the same track in accepting that the state agencies, government arms (for example, our judiciary), and socio-economic factors that would make it incorrect to classify Jamaica as a “failed state” are there, as you stated. Therefore, we have to agree that in effect, Jamaica today is NOT a failed state.

Where we differ, however, is over my personal view that Jamaica is rapidly approaching a socio-political and economic abyss. In other words, how well and how adequately are our state agencies, etc. functioning in response to the urgent needs of our society? We see that the hierarchy of the executive and legislative branches of government is not providing us with adequate, meaningful solutions to our social (crime is almost completely out of control), economic (the move back to the IMF says a lot) and political problems! As far as the third branch of government, the judiciary, is concerned, that branch urgently needs to be modernized in a context of back-logged cases.

I’ll end this rather lengthy viewpoint by once again saying that, at this rate, it cannot be long before Jamaica becomes officially a “failed state.” Each morning when I read Guyana’s Stabroek newspaper (and to a lesser extent the government-owned, politically influenced Guyana Chronicle), I realize that the proud nation of Guyana cannot be far from “failed state” status. Jamaica, I feel, is not far behind.

Don1, I sincerely hope that I am 100-percent incorrect in the pessimism I outlined above, but when I get out of bed in the morning and see a headline such as “13 Killed on Emancipation Weekend” in a tiny nation state like Jamaica, I have reasons enough to be pessimistic!

And notice the historical irony of it all: This happened on “Emancipation weekend”!!

I feel your pain and agree that Jamaica is in crisis... and has been so consistently throughout its history... pre and post independence.

However we wish to classify it...Jamaica is failing relative to many other countries.

The question is what to do about it? Neither party has a clue... the sycophants of this or that party notwithstanding. I see them well represented on this forum... with silly talk promoting or defending their tribe.
As I predicted the current regime is failing...just as the previous one(s) did. Nothing new or unexpected here.

There has to be a new paradigm of governance to take us out of the morass. The traditional PNP/JLP partisan paradigm is dead and is taking Jamaica down with it.
... yet the ignorant partisans of both tribes don't realize it. They bask in the faux glory of power... either exercising it or impatiently waiting in the wings to exercise it.... the better to feed their tribe and indulge in self aggrandizement.

We need a new way and a new type of leadership... a modern day Norman Manley or better still ...Marcus Garvey.

Nothing less will do.