Now that Mr Lewin's gone... - JamaicaObserver.com

Saturday, November 21, 2009 6:55 AM

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Now that Mr Lewin's gone...

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

We're really trying to understand.

Now that Mr Hardley Lewin has resigned as commissioner of the police, amidst - we are told by Information Minister Daryl Vaz - concerns that the police force is not doing enough to deal with the crime situation in the country, what next?

Do we place our hopes and expectations for crime reduction in the hands of the next commissioner?

Or do we face up to the reality that crime, as we know, is here to stay and get worse as long as politicians, civil society and communities continue to maintain that nefarious historical link with criminals that Mr Lewin spoke so cagily about a few weeks ago?

It is with the greatest sadness that we acknowledge the latter as the more realistic option, given the timing of Mr Lewin's departure.

For the Government, via its dithering with regard to the US extradition request for Mr Christopher Coke, who is wanted in that country to answer charges of arms and drug trafficking, is fast disqualifying itself as a credible source of information in terms of the Jamaican crime situation.

Let's face it.

There's nothing that any police commissioner can do to bring down the crime rate as long as the corruption that is inherent, not just in the force, but in the society, is allowed to fester.

As Rear Admiral Lewin has pointed out on occasion, the police force is but a microcosm of society. The men and the women who serve in it are products of the society. So to argue that our problems are attributable to poor leadership on the part of any one individual is terribly simplistic at best, patently disingenuous at worst.

In the meantime, it is with a morbid fascination that we are watching to see how the next appointee to the top job will treat with the matrimonial monsters that are Mr and Mrs Politics and Crime.

Will he or she pretend that the continued pussyfooting on the issue of Mr Coke's extradition is a viable option?

Will we witness yet another flurry of ammunition raids and killings even as their replacements flow in through our porous borders, the back door of our Customs Department and graduate from our inept education system?

It is obvious - from the responses that Mr Lewin's resignation has triggered - that the public perception of the next police commissioner is that of a puppet who will be coming to the post armed with the co-operation that the Government requires to further perpetrate the pathetic farce that represents its will to fight crime.

This does not augur well for any of us.

For where there is distrust of the police force, especially the head of it, there can be no hope of exiting this dilemma.

And if that's the case, we'd better start focussing beyond the Government for cues to realise our salvation and pray for the mercy that God Almighty alone is capable of bestowing on us.

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