THE EDITOR, Madam:
RECENTLY, MY husband and I were held up at gunpoint and robbed. We felt blessed that we got away with our lives. While the robbery was in progress, some friends who were alerted called the police who arrived some 20 minutes later. My husband gave them a statement, including the licence number of the vehicle that the robbers were driving, and they said that the next day they would take it to the tax office to find out who owned the vehicle.
The next day when my husband went to the police station to file the formal report, he was told that the preliminary report that he had given the night before could not be found. So the constable on duty proceeded to take his statement all over again, of course, in long-hand. Two hours later, in between many conversations with colleagues the constable took a quick break to buy banana chips, and my husband left the station. But not before the police told him that this has become quite a common occurrence and that there is a ring of car thieves going around. And what were they doing about this?
Well, there was nothing much that they could do, they said, but since the report was filed, then we'll see. When asked if there was any possibility that we could get our belongings back, they assured us that would definitely not happen, and what a shame. We should just be glad that we got away with our lives, they said.
And we are glad. We have heard the stories, even those subsequent to our experience, of those who were not as blessed as we were.
My husband is no longer angry at the system, and related the above experience at the police station in the blithe, tongue-in-cheek manner of someone who has gone beyond caring. I was and still am, angry and frustrated. And this has been the major source of my tears since the event. Why is it that myself and others can be so horribly violated on a daily basis, and the perpetrators can so easily get away with it, with no real fear of being caught?
I am angry that our police do not have facilities to effectively fight crime. Has no one realised that we have to accept that Kingston is a crime-ridden city, and that we need the resources of an NYPD or LAPD to deal proficiently with our crime. Why did they have to go to the tax office to get the owner information? Why don't they have their own database with this information? But even so, this lack of means is still not an admissible excuse for the performance of the police. Why wasn't an alert sent out when we gave the licence number to the police that night, just 20 minutes after the crime? Why was the report lost by the very next day?
In his speech to the Democratic convention, as he accepted the nomination to run for President, Vice President Al Gore made a very profound statement. He said that in the long run, a second-class education always turns out to be more expensive than a first-class one. In Jamaica, we are living this truth. Our police lack the confidence, initiative and resourcefulness that a first-class education would foster, to operate with any level of effectiveness, in spite of the lack of proper resources.
So the question begs to be asked: If we gave them the proper resources, would they even know what to do with it I realise that not all policemen are as unmotivated, uninspired and apathetic as the ones we met, but the fact is that crime is on the rise, and the predators have little to fear from the police.
On a broader level, I am frustrated because I, myself, feel as impotent as the police. What can I do? How can I tell my government that the lifestyle I have in Jamaica is unacceptable? How can I tell them so that they will listen and care and do something about it? I cannot live like this.
I know that I am not a victim, and that I have choices. Though I have no residency papers for any country other than Jamaica, I can easily find employment elsewhere, and leave this mess behind. This is not what I want. I want to be part of a solution. But I feel so helpless.
I am etc.
FED UP
Kingston 6
Via Go-Jamaica
