Naysayers take Montague out of context

THE EDITOR, Sir: ONCE AGAIN, National Security Minister Robert Montague’s statements are being taken out of context. First, it was when he classified gunmen as “dutty criminals”, then it was “my uncle is a obeah man”, and now this: “Jamaicans should not be overly concerned about the current upsurge in murders”.

Let me first point out that it is the minister’s responsibility to allay our fears and make us feel less threatened. As expected, no one paid much attention to the rest of Mr Montague’s comments, including his statement, “[Be] concerned, yes, because lives are being lost, but when you look at the antecedents of most of those, it is a matter of gang members killing gang members.”

Naturally, people dissected his comments and chose to place emphasis where they wanted. This goes to show that no matter how many resources Mr Montague allocates to the force to fight crime or how he tries to assure the people of this country that the Government and the security ministry are working to ensure everyone’s safety, there will always be a set of naysayers and detractors.

We need to stop expecting the Government and police alone to solve the country’s crime problem. No number of crime plans drafted will stop someone from pulling a trigger or slashing someone’s throat or simply snatching someone’s belongings. If you offend someone and he decides that he is going to kill you, no crime plan can prevent that.

We need to become police informants. We have to work together to dismantle the dutty criminals’ network that was laid many years before Montague became minister! CLAUDE MCPHERSON mcphersonclaude32@gmail.com