WHEN THE Minister of National Security himself has conceded that homicide is the leading cause of death after the most serious diseases he is confirming the worst fears of most of the population. And he gave the figures to confirm it at an international conference on violence prevention last week a murder rate of 44 per 100,000 putting us among nations with the highest such rates in the Americas.
With that as background, columnist Dr. Garth Rattray gives reminders of the mundane elements of murder as commercial industry elsewhere on this page. The statistics are not entirely new as similar disclosures have been published before by THE STAR, our afternoon tabloid.
What we presume are updated figures have been supplied to our columnist by Police Superintendent Newton Amos setting out rates for a 'hit', rental for weapons and ammunition and several other elements pointing to murder as big business.
And all the intricacies are there, from deposits and penalties, deal-making, and even conflicts over person relations. In short, organisation and management is at the heart of an activity which employs mercenaries as the impersonal guns for hire, bereft of motive or emotion. No wonder so many killings appear to lack an obvious motive.
This kind of organised crime superimposed on all the other aspects of violence and social unrest is no more susceptible to states of emergency or the brutish rampaging of special squads of policemen and soldiers.
As we have urged before, painstaking detective work and cultivation of intelligence must be allied with the boosting of manpower and more sophisticated training with outside help.
The Minister apparently recognises this even as he restates respect for human rights and better community relations. If murder is second only to diseases as the cause of death the ultimate crime plan must strive to put it out of business.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
