The Editor, Sir:

The news media quite rightly provide us with murder statistics from time to time. Further clarification of 'murder', however, would help us to interpret the data more accurately. I would like some answers to the following four questions:

Do the murder data include the numbers of police officers killed in drive-by shootings or shoot-outs?

Do the data include members of the public killed by the police, in self-defence or otherwise?

Would the data include figures for one policeman being killed by another?

At what stage would the data include deaths when cause of death is not yet decided (e.g. the death of Bob Woolmer)?

I hope someone can enlighten me.

I am, etc.,

(Mrs.) PATRICIA DESAI

pdesai@cwjamaica.com

46 Daisy Avenue

Kingston 6