Focus on safety, not war

By Yvonne McCalla Sobers, Guest Columnist

Each national security minister seems to think he can use rusty ideas and no clear plan to win a war against organised crime. Not surprisingly, success has been as elusive as trying to force a stream to flow uphill.

Past and present strategies to fight crime have resulted in more crime and even greater fear of crime. For example, the increase of murders from 152 (1970) to 232 (1973) caused public panic. As a result, the Gun Court Act and Suppression of Crime Act were passed in 1974. However, by 1978, murders were up to 381.

Tough policing measures over the following decades resulted in a murder rate that reached as high as 1,674 in 2005. Murder rates fell after the 2010 state of emergency and extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, and are on the rise again.

Over the years, combat strategies in the 'war' on crime have resulted in a temporary fall followed by further rise in murder rates. Successive governments have formed special police units that have started out as stars, only to end as peenie-wallies. For example, there were 85 gangs in 2004 when the Kingfish unit was formed with a mandate to dismantle gangs. Six years later, the number of gangs was estimated at 268, and the unit was disbanded without fanfare.

In 2010, the then government pushed through six anti-crime bills. One was ruled as unconstitutional, and the others did little more than add to overcrowding in lockups and alienation of youth detained for long periods without charge.

The newest 'solution' is proposed anti-gang legislation. This law would give the police further reason to lock up youth presumed guilty because of where they live and who their associates are. Anti-gang laws have been most useful in enabling politicians to seem tough on crime while doing little to enforce laws that already exist.

Apart from being found to be unconstitutional and impossible to enforce, these laws have been shown to worsen gang violence. For example, the USA continues to have increasingly high levels of gang activity despite having passed anti-gang laws since 1988. As can be foreseen, gangs under pressure will go underground for a time, only to resurface when, where, and how they choose.

PUBLIC MISTRUST

Attempts to defeat crime by force have led to mistrust between the police and civilians. Police abuses have alienated entire communities and helped to create spaces in which gang leaders make the rules. In addition, when the police cannot persuade witnesses to say what they know, wrongdoers walk free. Conviction rates are, therefore, below 10 per cent.

If Minister of National Security Peter Bunting hopes to change past crime patterns, he could, for example, consider a plan that would address the main elements necessary for a crime to take place.

For one, Bunting needs to convince youth that crime is not worth the effort. A life of crime is most likely to attract those for whom criminal activity provides high reward and low risk. In particular, lawbreaking can tempt youth who wake every morning to no money, no job, no hope, no justice, and the prospect of jail or morgue before the day ends.

Another element pushing crime is ease of access to the skills and tools needed to commit crime. Jamaican jails and prisons provide from weeks to years of advanced training in criminal skills. Consequently, released inmates can find their services in high demand by recruiters with criminal intent.

Fear of the gunman and mistrust of the police increase opportunities for crime. Citizens are unlikely to cooperate with police who are rude, hostile, or disrespectful.

The focus of a security plan, therefore, needs to be on prevention as well as punishment. Punishment without regard for fundamental rights and freedoms, or without chance of rehabilitation, can cause crime.

Minister Bunting can learn much from crime-prevention work already being done globally. Features of a security plan would include systemic changes. The public would need to be convinced that justice can be swift and sure, and that only accused persons who are proven threats to society need be locked up. Rehabilitation would have to be provided for the 90 per cent of prison population destined to leave worse than they arrived.

Steps would need to be taken to strengthen weak family systems, identifying and filling gaps of social control (such as school, church, workplace, community, sports and entertainment). Most of all, security personnel must be held accountable for respecting and protecting the rights of all - victims, witnesses, fellow police personnel and alleged perpetrators.

Yvonne McCalla Sobers is a human rights activist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and sobersy@yahoo.com.