Dear Editor,

Recently an 18-year-old girl was kidnapped in Mandeville. It is believed that she was three months pregnant. She was later released by her kidnappers in an unstable condition. This is only one of the many reported cases of kidnapping that takes place often in this little country of ours. Of all the crimes committed in Jamaica, kidnapping is running a “rat race” with murder and other crimes. Many children, teenagers and adults have been kidnapped, some for ransoms and others for reasons that are still unknown. By informal estimates, there were more than a dozen cases of people being kidnapped for ransom last year. For those cases, arrests were few.

What are we doing about this? What measures have the security forces implemented for families and children who are at risk of being kidnapped? An end needs to be put to this devious act. But there is a challenge for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, for many of these cases are not reported because individuals fear their lives as with other crimes. Also, there are several cases of false alarms where some teenagers run away from their homes because of poor living conditions, abuse, or to live with the opposite sex.

However, the government is not the only ones who need to “pull up their socks” to curtail kidnapping, but parents need to provide stability in the home and execute stringent security measures to protect their children. The government can never, and will never take the place of the primary agent of socialisation – the home.

Vinessa Maxwell

Mandeville, Manchester

vinessa_maxwell@yahoo.com