Dear Editor,

With the brutal nature of the murders now taking place in certain parishes, and the hapless Opposition decrying the current state of emergency and threatening to withdraw its support, it is full time, as Jamaicans, we say the obvious: Jamaica needs a state of emergency for the next 10 years.

I hear the talk from many people about how long is necessary for the state of emergency to reap big rewards and nobody seems willing to put a timeline on it. I say 10 years ought to be enough.

Let’s understand a few things here: As much as we might like for normal policing to resume soon, in my opinion, that is not practical at this time. Why? The police force that we have is antiquated, corrupt, inept, and indisciplined. Most importantly, it doesn’t have the confidence of the people.

Alongside all that, and the other structural problems in the force, the police alone cannot adequately deal with criminals for at least the next 10 years — that’s enough time for the force to get its act together.

We need to put a lid on murders. How does the nation do that? A continuance of the state of emergency!

Jamaica lost the plot in the late 1990s through to the early 2000s. Murders increased during the meltdown of the economy in the 1990s. Many people seem afraid to say it, but when over 300,000 people were suddenly out of a job and had no hope, the gangs became a sure institution to swallow up the excess labour. Then the criminals were left to take orders from nobody but themselves. To now cauterise the bloodshed and pull murders back to manageable levels, all the plans that should have been put into place then need to be effected.

Of all the different minister of national security and police commissioner changes, none has worked. The only time we saw a real reduction in murders was when we had the state of emergency to catch Christopher “Dudus” Coke. When it was discontinued, the criminals regrouped and we are seeing the effects of that now. Jamaica has the People’s National Party to thank for that — its members opposed the extension and expansion.

So now, in my view, only one instrument, one rod of correction, the last tool in our armoury to get a grip on crime is the limited state of emergency. We need it to go right across the island, cramping and paralysing the murderous elements amongst us, and showing those who believe they can just outwait the current 90-day term, that the State will not fail.

While the state of emergency moves across the island over the next 10 years the police can improve their investigative and intelligence-gathering capabilities so that the force can hold the reins by itself.

We must stop quibbling about whether or not we need a written crime plan or have a plan or will get a plan. There are enough studies to fill Alexander the Great’s library in Alexandria, Eygpt. What we need now is something that works and will give us time to fix the police force.

The funny thing about plans to combat crime is that the State is not as nimble as criminals are. So by the time the State gets around to implementing anything the criminals have moved on making those plans redundant.

What is needed is the continuance and expansion of the state of public emergency to cripple criminals across the island, so as to stop them having the luxury of evolving too quickly, so as to allow the State to catch up with them and then get ahead of them. The current police force is in no position to do any of that. We need a 10-year state of emergency to give the police the time to reach that stage.

Like it or not, we are at a crossroads, and we must not go the way of 2010 again. We must take the tough decision that is necessary to cauterise the problem of crime. It’s time to fix the crime problem. Well-thinking Jamaicans will support you if you take that bold step, Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Enough of this 90-day extension. Ten years is what is really needed to fix this problem from the root.

Fabian Lewis

tyronelewis272@gmail.com