Dear Editor,

There has always been a long-standing culture in Jamaica that promotes: see and blind, hear and deaf; walk and live, but talk and die.

We, as a people, often adhere to this way of thinking, because we mostly feel that being an informant will be an automatic death sentence. And while this may be true in some circumstances, depending on where you live, the positive impact of being an informant massively outweighs the long-term effects and may even save lives, including our own.

We hear all the time about people being too scared to report anything to the State and who will pass on information about the informant after a report is made. There is some truth regarding information being leaked, but a lot of informants have been safely whisked away.

We can’t expect the State to know the intricacies of crime and violence in every nook and cranny without any help from us. There are many communities that have leaders — depending on who has the most access to resources, legally or otherwise — and the people of these communities are very loyal to these leaders and their cronies, so the residents are very selective in what they say or do. So these communities are “crime free”, as criminal actives are never reported.

Blocking roads when criminals are taken out, but silent when a member from law enforcement is killed, is just nonsensical to begin with. And we glorify guns, drugs, dons, and badness over peace, love, and happiness.

But we have the power to transform our island back into the paradise it was widely known for.

Warren Hall

warway09@gmail.com