Garth Rattray

Commissioner of Police, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin's zero-tolerance initiative came on stream Wednesday, February 13. Many citizens find the concept (of tackling indiscipline and small infractions) incongruous since we remain inundated and terrorised by far more serious crimes.

But, Commissioner Lewin is right. Sweating the small stuff (like traffic violations and littering) is preventative and sets the foundation for corralling the big stuff (like murders, corruption and racketeering). The well-known 'broken window theory', from the book Broken Windows by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, proposes that failure to repair broken windows in derelict buildings leads to vandalism, squatting and even arson. On the contrary, repairing those windows reduces the likelihood of vandalism and so on.

The theory is transferable to diverse minor crimes within the wider society and was most famously utilised (as 'zero tolerance') by the New York City Transit Authority (in 1985) and eventually (beginning in 1993) by NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani to significantly suppress petty and serious crimes.

Zero tolerance not only encourages discipline within the society, but also increases the vigilance of the security forces and law-abiding citizens. This heightened state of awareness leads to criminals being more readily apprehended. No cause-and-effect relationship has been established between zero tolerance and a reduction in crime; however, it is beneficial, even when other social factors are negated. For their part, cynics insist that all extraneous conditions (like national employment rates and the political atmosphere) must be taken into account because zero tolerance needs a multiplicity of factors acting in concert for it to work.

Few issues

It's encouraging that the current exercise has netted several illegal offensive weapons, but I have a few problems with it here in Jamaica. If it is to be truly effective, it must be sustained until it becomes a part of our social psyche. Regrettably, all previous initiatives have been short-lived campaigns that start off with great fanfare and inevitably lead to the abuse of power by some security officers, police harassment and wholesale seizures of assorted motor vehicles, bicycles and equipment.

All former initiatives have quietly faded away into oblivion, only to be resurrected from time to time to repeat their cycle of expedience and experimentation. Because they facilitate corrupt practices by rogue cops, there needs to be clear operational parameters to minimise the excesses that will certainly occur. There should also be mechanisms for reporting citizen complaints.

And, while they're at it, stationary speed traps and checkpoints obviously have their place, but we desperately need far more police presence moving with the traffic. Police patrol cars provide great deterrents against excessive speeding and dangerous driving. Police must be posted at the many well-known roadways where minibuses, route taxis and road hogs routinely overtake entire lines of traffic and/or use the sidewalks/soft shoulders as their personal lane.

Night-noise

The cops need to tighten up on violations of the night-noise law. They need to remove the black tint off vehicles (that render occupants invisible to everyone outside), loud auto-stereo systems (that render occupants deaf to horns and emergency sirens) and TVs/DVDs mounted in the front of cars/buses. They also need to check wreckers/tow trucks and the vehicle(s) for contraband. Many cops are very familiar with these trucks and give them 'free passage'.

And, finally, maybe someone can explain this great mystery: Why are tickets issued to people inside cars without seat belts while those (adults and, oftentimes little children) riding unprotected and unrestrained in the open backs of pickups are totally ignored?