THE EDITOR, Sir:
ON THE front page of the Saturday Gleaner October 27th, was a graphic photograph showing the burning of tyres by unlicensed taxi (robot) operators, who lit the tyres spread across Caledonia Crescent in Cross Roads, Kingston.
To date, I have not heard if any of these arsonists were arrested and charged for endangering the lives of pedestrians and motorists, and damage to the expensive roadway.
Are our security forces organised to deal effectively with this daily act of hooliganism? I think not. It is time the forces change their operations from the morbid "undertaker" policing to the modern on the spot techniques that have proven to be so effective in places like New York City.
In the USA, when a 99-year-old grandmother tries to demonstrate, she is handcuffed, fingerprinted, put in jail, and pay a fine before she is released. In India and Pakistan, demonstrators are teargassed, beaten with long bamboo sticks and jailed. But back in good ole JA, our daily demonstrators parade nightly on the TV news displaying every vulgar form of depravity. To add insult to injury, it is members of the security forces that can be seen clearing up the mess, while idlers taunt and jeer them.
Aren't the security forces their own worst enemies? For example, right under the nose of the Constant Spring Police Station is a growing shabby higgler operation on a verge of land, which should be a clean landscaped area. Where are the MP, Councillor, Security Forces, Civil Servants, Town Planning Department and citizens I observe patronising this expanding horror?
It seems to me that the twin evils of fear and laziness are eating away at the heart of Public Administration in this country.
I am, etc.,
JOHN WILLIAMS
P.O. Box 1173
Kingston 8
