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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Trouble in the house</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Henley Morgan
Thursday, January 11, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=88 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Henley Morgan</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Last year this time the police commissioner projected a five per cent reduction in the number of murders for the year. Through this medium I rejected this incremental approach to controlling crime that has already surpassed tolerable limits.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Not wanting to over-promise and under-deliver, it was clear that the commissioner was "playing it safe". I pointed out then that should the reduction be significantly greater than the projection, one could reasonably conclude that the police had not a clue as to the cause and so could take no credit for it. Neither should the public take comfort in any steep decline. As it turned out, the reduction in murders in 2006 was impressive enough but coming close to the end of the year the demons were let lose and panic set in once again.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The commissioner's prognosis for the impending general elections is that they could be violent. Some people are interpreting this as a further sign of panic.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Whether one chooses to be a pessimist and believe that things are descending into an abyss or an optimist and believe that it is always darkest just before dawn, the realist in each of us makes it plain that there is trouble in the house. And not just in the house but the several houses that make up Jamaica.<P class=StoryText align=justify>First, there is government house or Jamaica House and Gordon House, if you prefer. Theirs is the heavy end of the load. They must provide the vision and the leadership; display great courage and resourcefulness to solve a problem that is largely self-inflicted.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Then there is the business house. Those in industry must explore new ways of more fully utilising their expertise and capital to work on social problems that give rise to crime and rob them of opportunity for growth and profit. This has got to be a cost of doing business or soon there will be no business to do.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The schoolhouse has a critical role to play. It nurtures minds, inculcates values, shapes character and conditions habits. Education is the perfect (some would say the only) antidote to crime born of politics, ignorance and poverty.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Let's not forget about your house and my house. The family is the building block of society. There is no substitute for good parenting and there is not another institution to which it can be delegated.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Unless the Lord builds the house they labour in vain that build it (Psalm 127:1). With that in mind we come to the Lord's house; the greatest of paradoxes in our present circumstance. Polls conducted and published by Bill Johnson in 2006 showed Jamaica to be a highly religious country with 92 per cent of respondents claiming to believe in God. A large percentage of those people, 80 per cent, said they go to church regularly or sometimes. Over 65 per cent said they believe the Bible must be taken literally, that is, word for word with no exceptions and 61 per cent said they believe in life after death. So what's the problem?<P class=StoryText align=justify>The problem is Jamaica which is reputed to have among the largest number of churches per capita in the world also has close to the highest number of homicides. It's not an easy puzzle to solve or to explain. As a church man myself, when put under pressure I resort to th
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Henley Morgan
Thursday, January 11, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=88 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Henley Morgan</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Last year this time the police commissioner projected a five per cent reduction in the number of murders for the year. Through this medium I rejected this incremental approach to controlling crime that has already surpassed tolerable limits.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Not wanting to over-promise and under-deliver, it was clear that the commissioner was "playing it safe". I pointed out then that should the reduction be significantly greater than the projection, one could reasonably conclude that the police had not a clue as to the cause and so could take no credit for it. Neither should the public take comfort in any steep decline. As it turned out, the reduction in murders in 2006 was impressive enough but coming close to the end of the year the demons were let lose and panic set in once again.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The commissioner's prognosis for the impending general elections is that they could be violent. Some people are interpreting this as a further sign of panic.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Whether one chooses to be a pessimist and believe that things are descending into an abyss or an optimist and believe that it is always darkest just before dawn, the realist in each of us makes it plain that there is trouble in the house. And not just in the house but the several houses that make up Jamaica.<P class=StoryText align=justify>First, there is government house or Jamaica House and Gordon House, if you prefer. Theirs is the heavy end of the load. They must provide the vision and the leadership; display great courage and resourcefulness to solve a problem that is largely self-inflicted.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Then there is the business house. Those in industry must explore new ways of more fully utilising their expertise and capital to work on social problems that give rise to crime and rob them of opportunity for growth and profit. This has got to be a cost of doing business or soon there will be no business to do.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The schoolhouse has a critical role to play. It nurtures minds, inculcates values, shapes character and conditions habits. Education is the perfect (some would say the only) antidote to crime born of politics, ignorance and poverty.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Let's not forget about your house and my house. The family is the building block of society. There is no substitute for good parenting and there is not another institution to which it can be delegated.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Unless the Lord builds the house they labour in vain that build it (Psalm 127:1). With that in mind we come to the Lord's house; the greatest of paradoxes in our present circumstance. Polls conducted and published by Bill Johnson in 2006 showed Jamaica to be a highly religious country with 92 per cent of respondents claiming to believe in God. A large percentage of those people, 80 per cent, said they go to church regularly or sometimes. Over 65 per cent said they believe the Bible must be taken literally, that is, word for word with no exceptions and 61 per cent said they believe in life after death. So what's the problem?<P class=StoryText align=justify>The problem is Jamaica which is reputed to have among the largest number of churches per capita in the world also has close to the highest number of homicides. It's not an easy puzzle to solve or to explain. As a church man myself, when put under pressure I resort to th