MINISTER OF National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, in his broadcast to the nation Thursday night attempted to parry the scepticism and criticism that have greeted the government's recently announced initiative to fight crime 'Operation Kingfish'.
The minister's discomfort is understandable since he, the security forces and the entire society need the support and backing of decent, law-abiding citizens to curtail the country's run-away crime rate. Persistent cynicism in light of other well-publicised initiatives that have failed to yield even a third of the desired results will only benefit the criminals.
As we have already commented in these columns however, there is no reason for the government to be embarrassed if it has to shift policies mid-stream in line with more current intelligence. To this end we consider it a sensible policy decision to seek to recruit overseas police personnel to work with the local constabulary. While the minister's broadcast was still short on the specifics of the areas and rank for which recruits are being sought, we think that the tapping into the resources of the more sophisticated United Kingdom and U.S. law enforcement systems will go a far way in helping the crime fighting efforts.
In acceding to this suggestion, the government seems to have opted to mute the mutterings of critics with misplaced notions of nationalism.
We do not see this recruitment of overseas security personnel as a panacea. Rather it is another, but very important weapon, in the arsenal being assembled to paralyse the tentacles of crime. There may be cultural and operational nuances to wade through and perhaps, some resistance by local police who may interpret the action as a whittling away of their responsibility to 'foreigners'. Yet we would hope that all parties concerned will focus on the bigger picture and accept that the war has to be fought at every level and with all resources available.
Indeed an important justification for seeking foreign help is the admitted fact that much of locally organised crime has international tentacles in such areas as drug trafficking. So there is good reason to strengthen relationships at the level of detection and enforcement strategies.
The minister has said the task force of 'Operation Kingfish' will be a self-contained autonomous body with its own analysts capable of directing operations on the basis of available intelligence. This strategy should also go a far way to correcting some of the missteps and possible corruption that have stymied the security forces investigative efforts in the past. In the long run, our hope and that of the wider society, is that this new initiative will, in fact, net some big fish and not just the minnows of the criminal underworld.
