THE RAPE of a 94-year-old woman in Old Harbour, St. Catherine, evokes a sense of horror even more startling than the escalating murder rate that defies logic and batters hope. The killings may numb the senses; but the image of the animal who ravaged the senior citizen plumbs an unspeakable depth of savagery.
It is against that background that the statement by Police Commissioner Francis Forbes that he is doing his best appears to be pitifully defensive and not likely to inspire public confidence in his leadership of the police force.
The Commissioner's remark obliquely places the blame for lack of success in fighting crime on lack of resources and this only serves to indicate to the public that the best that the Government is capable of doing is simply not good enough. The only thing that counts in the fight against crime is success. This may be incremental and slow but unless there is measurable improvement the public has every right to shower blame on those who fail to exercise authority effectively.
There has been no reduction in the murder rate, which has reached unbearable momentum. With more than four months left in the year, over 900 Jamaicans have been slaughtered so far in 2004; 114 to date in August alone. There may be pros and cons to the declaration of a formal State of Emergency, but what our political leaders need to convey to the public is that they are so totally and irreversibly committed to dealing with crime and violence that they now live in a psychological state of emergency which consumes their total energies. The Prime Minister's speech to PNP supporters in which he praised Dr. Peter Phillips, the Minister of National Security, was a piece of politicking quite out of place at a time like this.
Jamaicans generally are much too inclined to accept the 'I am doing my best' excuse. The time has come for someone to smash a fist on the desk and shout, 'If your best is not good enough, someone else will be found to do the job.'
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
