A word of advice to Commissioner Williams
POLICE Commissioner Dr Carl Williams must have thought that he could have reduced the level of criticism levelled at him for his ‘perfect 10’ rating of his performance when he went on radio and television last week claiming that what he gave was “a flippant answer to a flippant question”.
His answer, he said, was never meant to be taken seriously.
But Commissioner Williams, a man with many years of experience in the police force, ought to know that he cannot afford to be flippant when dealing with issues within his portfolio.
The question, we believe, was fair and relevant, given the 10 per cent increase in murders reported by Commissioner Williams’ own police force.
According to the data, 602 murders were recorded for the first six months of this year, 98 more than the comparable period last year.
There is no challenging the fact that Jamaicans are frightened by the spate of killings, 50 per cent of which, the police tell us, had their roots in gang conflicts.
Criminal acts such as robberies, rapes, etc, account for 38 per cent of the murders, while 10 per cent have been classified as domestic.
Policing in Jamaica is a most difficult and dangerous job. To make matters worse, the constabulary’s effectiveness is hobbled by limited resources and a deep sense of public mistrust.
Add to that the fear of reporting crimes fuelled by the ‘informa fi dead’ culture and what we have is a big problem with no easy solution.
However, the country cannot afford to give up. Criminals should not get the feeling that they have the upper hand. This country missed the opportunity to keep gunmen in a state of fear and retreat when our legislators, who now form the Government, opposed an extension of the anti-crime measures that were imposed after the security forces’ May 2010 operation in Tivoli Gardens to arrest Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
The upshot is the crime problem with which we are now grappling.
Commissioner Williams, at his news conference last week, announced a new ‘Get the Guns Campaign’ which, he said, will offer monetary incentives to citizens who provide information that lead to the confiscation of deadly weapons.
This campaign, he said, is designed to intercept illegal guns coming into the country, seize illegal guns in the hands of the criminals, and ultimately reduce the number of gun murders in the country.
How this programme will differ from Crime Stop, which has the same feature, is yet to be explained by Commissioner Williams.
He has promised that further details of this new campaign will be announced shortly.
The commissioner, we suggest, should be careful that he does not give the country the impression that he is no different from our politicians who love to make announcements in the hope that people will be convinced that they are actually doing something.
He should also be careful not to erode the public support that greeted his appointment to the post.