Members of the police force survey a crime scene.
Don Robotham, Contributor
IN ALL the debate about the war in Iraq, the most important thing is for us to stay focused on our urgent problems in Jamaica: crime and the economy. Obviously, the war will have adverse effects on our economy and there is precious little we can do about that. The crime issue, however, is different. Here, we have the power to take actions which can make a great difference in reducing our high homicide rate and putting Jamaica on the right track.
Last week, I had the benefit of attending a very worthwhile forum on 'The Effects of Crime on Jamaica' in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This event was sponsored by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) in collaboration with the Ministry of National Security, the Gleaner Company and Jamaica National Building Society. The Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, was the main speaker, along with senior officers of the Police Force. United States Ambassador, Sue Cobb, and leaders of Jamaican civil society were also on the platform and answered questions from the audience. The forum was very well attended and was a resounding success. It is clear that overseas Jamaicans remain deeply attached to Jamaica and are very concerned indeed about what they can do to help the fight against crime in Jamaica.
Several interesting points were made at the forum. The crime rate and the homicide rate are clearly decreasing. The official figure is 20 per cent. There is no doubt that the special measures taken in January 2003 have had a very positive effect. The most important thing that emerged, however, was the really excellent performance of the police representatives, especially one of the younger officers. He gave a thoughtful, factual and very informed commentary on a short video on the Jamaican crime situation which was of an extremely high quality. What struck me on this occasion is that our Police Force is succeeding in making important changes for the better in its leadership. We have a new generation of well-educated and thoughtful officers coming up in the ranks who have a broad and sophisticated approach to our problems. This is an enormously important development for our short and long-term fight against crime and this change has gone completely unrecognised by Jamaican society.
Instead, all we get is the old stereotypical presentations of the Police Force as 'beasts', drummed into our heads. This picture is false and needs to be recognised as such. The Police Force as an organisation needs to do much more to bring these outstanding officers more closely into contact with the public. The force must improve on its public relations and the media must stop blinding themselves to the positive changes that are taking place.
STALEMATE
Notwithstanding what has been achieved, however, it is clear that crime-fighting in Jamaica has reached a stalemate. A definite reduction has been achieved but, apart from one highly publicised case involving the Canadians, there has been no breakthrough in catching any of the big fish in the drug trade. Sporadic shootings and skirmishes continue to break out, each of which could easily flare into a major incident. In other words, the limited progress we have made so far is exactly that: very limited. It is fragile and could easily collapse.
What is the reason for the lack of a decisive breakthrough against the big drug lords? It cannot be that their identities are not known. The problem therefore must be twofold. First, there must be the problem of securing evidence which would stand up in a Jamaican court of law. This is not a small matter because our British-derived rules of evidence are quite stringent. For example, they probably would exclude evidence obtained by electronic surveillance.
The second problem I assume is that of getting witnesses willing to testify, as has been discussed in the press in the past two weeks. Despite bold denials by at least one attorney when I first raised this as a problem three months ago, it is now quite clear that this is indeed an extremely serious obstacle.
What are the answers to these two major stumbling blocks? It would seem to me as obvious now as it was three months ago. We must urgently secure the legal instruments which will allow us to break this logjam. And I mean break.
I have read nothing which leads me to change my mind from what I proposed three months ago. Indeed, if anything I am stronger in my views. This is because events have demonstrated that it is simply not possible to make the breakthroughs against the really big criminal fish, within our existing legal environment. So we must make up our minds: either we want a decisive breakthrough or we do not. This is no time for the usual Jamaican attempt to speak through both sides of our mouth. The Government must be absolutely firm in this area. The Opposition must put up or shut up. Legal formalists must stop repeating ancient formulae and help the society to achieve this breakthrough within the framework of the rule of law.
Nothing stands still in a matter such as the fight against crime. Either we move forward or the criminals push us back. Either we have a breakthrough or the limited progress we have made so far will collapse in complete disaster. If, through inaction, political opportunism or middle class legal formalism, we fail to act, one thing is certain. There won't be a second chance.
FALSE PREMISE
One other factor should concern us greatly. This is the basis on which both the police and the army have undertaken their recent activities in the inner cities. One of the features of this approach which has been most successful and most admired has been the genuine efforts to be community friendly. The premise of this strategy is that following swiftly behind the police, will be the Government with substantial social provision. This is a false premise.
If the police and the army have been led to believe that significant funds for social improvements are going 'to follow back a them' into the inner city, then they have been deceived. If this is the basis for what they are doing now, they must very urgently rethink. This is because there is a budget crisis. We have to reduce the 8.4 per cent budget deficit to about four per cent in a single year. This means cuts, not new programmes.
Already, Government expenditure on social services has been heading down for a number of years. In 1997-98 it was 26 per cent of total expenditure, in 1999-00 it was 24 per cent and in 2000-01 it was 18 per cent of government expenditure. With the kind of financial crisis that we are in, we would be lucky if social expenditure stays above 15 per cent of total expenditure. The amount of money needed for inner-city renewal is enormous. Just to give you an idea, if you add Poor Relief to Food Stamps, to School Feeding, to Social and Economic Support funds, to Operation PRIDE, to the Social Investment Fund, the total is about US$50 million. Lift Up Jamaica a relatively small programme in its potential impact is budgeted at US$60 million over 18 months. To make a dent (only a dent) on our inner-city problems we would need an additional US$100 million. There is not the slightest possibility of any such additional funds in the present economic climate.
Therefore, Commissioner Francis Forbes and Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, a major premise of your existing strategy does not exist. This has nothing to do with whether the PNP or JLP or some other 'P' is, as we say in Jamaica, 'in power.' They could be 'in power' as much as they like, the funds are simply not there. Therefore, the idea that this emergency excursion by the police and the army into the inner cities would be a temporary measure falls apart. It has to be permanent. This has extremely serious implications for our security forces, for Jamaican civil society and for the fight against crime. It is the issue of whether and for how long we can sustain our crime fight and, indeed, step it up. The view of the big criminals is that we cannot sustain the existing level and that already we are beginning to drop our hands. Are they wrong or are they right?
Of course, many will gnash their teeth at seeing these thoughts in print. I would not worry too much about that. This is reality. These issues need to be confronted and confronted now. The special emergency measures need to be extended and strengthened. It is a weakness of these measures that they are confined to the inner cities. Uptown (where the big fish lives) and the rural townships need to feel the heat. Either we are going to take back Jamaica or we are not. No more playing around.
