Do something practical, sustainable to fight crime

THE EDITOR, Sir:

THE COMMISSIONER of Police, George Quallo, in a press conference on crime held at his office on June 13, stated that over 70 per cent of the murders committed are attributable to gangs.

The constant bloodletting, including the recent quadruple killing of a family in Mount Pleasant, Hanover, is of grave concern for which there should be urgent intervention by all stakeholders.

It is only a pity that these dog-hearted murderers were not only killing off themselves and allowing us decent, law-abiding citizens to live in peace. Nothing would please us more than to see the gangsters take each other out and leave innocent people out of their warfare.

What has been consistently lacking in our efforts to effectively fight crime are these interconnected elements: the lack of co-operation from the citizens, understandably due to our fear of passing on information to corrupt cops; poor investigations and inadequate evidence; weak prosecutions; and low convictions.

If there were cohesion of these critical ingredients then, undoubtedly, we would be reaping more positive results in crime-fighting.

There are, indeed, several means by which we can report criminals, as Commissioner Quallo has emphasised. However, oftentimes the problem is the incompetence and negligence of the police in effectively treating with our reports. The issue of citizens’ distrust of the police makes it extremely difficult for a sustained police-citizen relationship, which makes cooperation far-fetched. There are many of us who view some members of the police service as corrupt and colluding with the criminals.

If we are serious about collectively fighting crime, then we must comprehensively deal with the distrust and contention between the police and the citizenry.

SITTING IN LIMBO

The criminals are the ones benefiting from this murderous rampage, while we law-abiding citizens (young, middle-age and old) are at their mercy. No one is being spared by them.

Many of us have become numb to crime. When we hear about a murder, it is not shocking to us anymore because we have got so used to it. It is just another story.

What has taken us so long to do what works for us? Why can’t we get it right in curbing this daunting crime situation which negatively affects us in more ways than one? We should do what is practical and sustainable to enforce the rule of law. Otherwise, there will be no hope left for us. DUJON RUSSELL dujon.russell@yahoo.com