Phillip Paulwell | National patriotic consensus required to fight crime

Crime has been our number one problem as a country since about 1980. Let me repeat, crime has been our number one problem as a country. Not all crimes; in fact, certain serious crimes have been on the decline. Our problem has been murders. I am convinced that, if we can achieve a more than 50 per cent lowering of the murder rate, Jamaica could become an economic paradise in short order.

No other single issue has been more responsible for our underdevelopment than crime. Fix it and we will be able to have the resources to tackle all the other ills that we face. Fixing security will require mobilising every single patriotic Jamaican, regardless of political affiliation or social status, its institutions and all our leaders, in a great collective effort. The Government must lead in partnership with individuals and groups, representing all sectors of the society. Our people need to trust each other well enough to be open and unselfish in creating a Jamaica in which everyone anywhere can feel safe by day or by night, in their homes, on the street, and in their business places.

My interest in national security piqued recently when I served, over the last year, on the Joint Select Committee of Parliament to review the operations of the legislation establishing the Zones of Special Operations (ZOSO). I listened keenly to presentations from, among others, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Peace Management Initiative (PMI), Ministry of Justice (Restorative Justice Programme), Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Violence Prevention Alliance and Office of the Public Defender. I voted in favour of retaining the ZOSO as part of the efforts to control crime. But I realised that a lot more is needed to be done. I came away from those hearings with the clear view that, even though we shouldn’t instinctively pivot to throw money to solve every problem, crime was one such problem that required new money and bold innovative thinking to fix. It is absolutely crucial that consensus be reached on this very point.

On January 7, in an address to residents of McIntyre Villa in my constituency, during the launch of the Community Wi-Fi Hotspot, I said that sometimes I want to bawl as well over the issue of crime and violence in the area. There have been many cases of senseless and brutal murders in my constituency. And, in so many cases, the perpetrators are known but nobody is willing or brave enough to bring these terrorists to prosecution and conviction. I have indicated my support for States of Emergency in the absence of any other crime plan from the Government. Thankfully, my party has tolerated, over the last three years, a departure from collective responsibility on this issue so that members can exercise their conscience.

ACHIEVE CONSENSUS

My position is clear. We have to find a way to achieve consensus on the crime problem, despite the policy and party differences between the Government and Opposition on a wide range of other national issues.

I believe that the issues of crime and national security require radical changes and approaches. Our major crime problem is that people who commit crimes, especially murders, are not caught. Additionally, over 80% of all murders are committed with a gun. We need to start by strengthening the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the JCF. The best and easiest way to get intelligence is from the citizens sharing information directly with the police. However, the level of trust between the police and citizens has declined over time. If the people are going to be mobilised to cooperate in the fight against crimes and criminals, then there has to be a sustained effort to build trust between the people and the police. How can this be done?

Jamaica is one of the few democracies without an active civilian police reserve. We should have about 2,000 men and women per parish trained in basic security and mediation methods and available for call out. Multiply this by family and friends and this would provide widespread support for crime control. It would leave little space for gunmen to roam in both rural and urban areas. Those employed would be legally paid by their employers and the unemployed would be paid a stipend, by the State, during callout.

We should also return district constables to their districts. They know everyone, including strangers, and they are known to have intervened quickly in disputes to prevent crimes. They are the eyes and ears of the intelligence service. Currently, they push paper at police stations.

The Major Organised Crime & Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) requires strengthening and some amount of revamping as an intelligence service independent of the JCF. The reforms should see the requirement of different skill sets, pay grades and criteria for advancement which are separate from the JCF.

The JCF has to be revamped; there are many existing recommendations that need to be implemented. The tall hierarchy of 11 ranks was thought to be necessary in colonial times where white officers held all the ranks down to inspector and black people held the lower ranks down to constables. We could safely eliminate 3 or 4 of the ranks, thus bringing inspectors on the ground in support of street cops. Community policing would then be a greater focus. And pay them much better and create a viable fulfilling career path that can address the brightest and the best among our young people to serve their country.

The training of our police officers also needs revamping. Excessive drilling teaches instinctive obedience to orders from seniors. This might have been the approach adopted after the Morant Bay Rebellion but has certainly been the source of much conflict during current police/public encounters, since poor Jamaicans are not inclined to obey police orders as quickly and instinctively as expected. A different training manual is now necessary.

REFORM JDF

The JDF also has to look at itself and dust off some of the old recommendations for reform. As a society, there is a growing lack of discipline and a growing tendency towards lawlessness and disorder. The JDF has developed a reputation of inculcating in their trainees high levels of discipline. In this regard, the JDF can assist with a special academy to recruit and train many of the youngsters who ‘graduate’ from our school system without any immediate options to pursue higher learning or the job market, because they lack qualifications. These become recruits for the criminal underworld. There should be a compulsory requirement for recruitment to the military academy.

Crime fighting must also be supplemented by massive investment in technology. We should not hesitate to spend the billions that would be needed to ensure that high-definition cameras are ubiquitous throughout the length and breadth of Jamaica. They must be monitored by a cadre of well-trained and highly motivated specialists. There are other technologies to detect the precise locations where shots are fired. Unseen drones must also be used as remote devices to augment the other technologies. By the way, there are no better technologies than sniffer DOGS to track and trace hidden guns and ammunitions. Also, we really do need to see the law which provides for DNA forensics be fully utilised.

As stated already, the gun is the weapon of choice in our crime pandemic. We have developed a gun culture that resonates with both the law-abiding and the lawless. We need a long-term approach to eliminate this deadly romance with guns. In many European societies of the past, entire societies were armed to the teeth to enable people to defend themselves from criminals. As the crime wave declined in these countries, so, too, the decline in individuals seeing the need to protect themselves. We should adopt this approach and see the gun for what it is, a weapon of mass destruction and evil.

This article would be incomplete without attention being given to the main cause of crime and violence, namely, poverty. Poverty that is rooted in social turmoil, physical and infrastructural decay, ignorance and idleness within an environment of desensitisation to brutality and viciousness. This will require a fulsome analysis and detailed prescriptions for remedy. There were many presentations before the Joint Select Committee on ZOSO that made it clear that social interventions have been well studied and came highly recommended as companion measures to fight the scourge of crime. However, it requires WILL and MONEY. I daresay, this is an investment that can no longer be shunted and delayed; any significant national investment in a well-developed crime-fighting initiative is now a national imperative. We have borrowed and incurred massive debts over decades to fix other problems in our midst. Borrowing to fix crime and violence would be the best investment we would have made since Independence. I shall return to this subject in a subsequent article dealing with Big Ideas.

The Opposition is not in the business of trying to make the Government look good. However, on the issue of crime, we have to bury our differences and create a national patriotic political consensus based on compromises to chart the way forward for our beloved homeland. This matter can no longer be left to a government majority to solve by using the same techniques over and over without any identifiable improvement in the situation.

If we could fix our national security problem, Jamaica would become an overnight economic miracle. In this our 60th year of Independence, let us resolve to solve this cancer all together and bequeath a future to a generation that will indeed be able to sleep with their doors, if not open, but without the barricade of burglar bars. The time for action is now!!!

The views expressed in this article are entirely my own and did not benefit from active canvassing within my party. They are being written in celebration of our 60th anniversary as an independent nation.

Phillip Paulwell, member of parliament for the constituency of Kingston East and Port Royal and former Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining. He is the managing director of Cite Consulting Services Limited. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com