Dear Editor,

There is a revolution taking place in this fair isle of ours and I dare say it is not one that well-thinking Jamaicans welcome. There is a lot to be said about our penchant for violence, and I believe that just as wars have been profitable, someone is profiting from this culture of violence.

It would be foolhardy of us to think that the police can tame this monster of crime by themselves. What I do know, however, is that it will never be tamed because the populace thinks it’s easier to determine what criminal activity police are involved in as opposed to what they are not. This is indeed frightening. “To serve, protect and reassure” is their motto. Neither of these tenets is being upheld by the police based on the perception of the society, fuelled by the many instances of corrupt cops being apprehended, interdicted and killed in the line of duty – duty other than which constitutes their substantive role.

So while this perception abounds, the populace is being imprisoned – sequestered in their homes. The worst imprisonment, however, is mental. A culture of fear is being cultivated because those in officialdom, aided and abetted by the citizenry, lack the testicular fortitude to act decisively. So business owners will continue to be threatened if they fail to pay the piper; homes will be fire-bombed if just one occupant is an informer and all others, including yours truly, will be wondering when we will be called upon to pay the piper.

Jerome Newton

newtonjst@gmail.com