EDITORIAL - Extend the state of emergency

THERE IS a sense that in the past month or so, since the dismantling of Christopher Coke's power-base and command-and-control apparatus in Tivoli Gardens, that Jamaica's criminal overlords are behaving with less impunity than they used to.

The gangsters still extort, maim and murder. Yet, homicides are fewer than the average five per day that was the statistic for most of the first five months of the year. There is a feeling that for once the criminals are in retreat.

Indeed, several of the reputed gang leaders and, or, their henchmen are in detention. Others are in hiding, including the notorious Mr Coke, who is trying to avoid extradition to the United States (US). Additionally, scores of guns and several thousand rounds of ammunition have been seized since the security forces launched their operation in Tivoli Gardens on Labour Day - May 24.

Additional powers

Much of what has happened is directly attributable to the state of the emergency that the government declared for the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew, which gave the security forces additional powers to go after Coke and his supporters, who had barricaded themselves inside Tivoli Gardens and confronted police and soldiers elsewhere in the capital. This was a direct challenge to the Jamaican state.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, after months of resisting a US extradition request for Mr Coke - to the point of sanctioning the hiring of a law firm to lobby the American government to go easy on the Coke matter - was dragged to this action because of public anger when it was confirmed that he had lied about his role in the affair. Tivoli Gardens is in the heart of Mr Golding's west Kingston constituency and Mr Coke is a recognised supporter, and perhaps more, of the governing Jamaica Labour Party.

Mr Golding and his handlers have attempted to spin his forced conversion in the Coke-Tivoli affair into a planned and calculated assault by the administration on crime, which it was not. We, however, care little about how Mr Golding got to this point now that he is at it. What is important is that he does not retreat. The current efforts must be maintained and expanded.

Security forces flexibility

In this regard, the security forces have to be allowed to use the best weapon they have - and in the current circumstances that, as blunt as it may be, is the state of emergency. It allows the security forces flexibility of action, of a kind we would not condone in normal times or forever.

The life of the current state of emergency expires tomorrow, with no signal from the administration of what it intends. This is likely to be a subject on the agenda of the Cabinet at their meeting today.

Our recommendation is that the state of emergency be extended nationally and that it stays in place until the end of the year. The security forces must use their extended powers for search, arrest and detention to go after the gangs everywhere they exist, but particularly in St Catherine, Clarendon and St James.

We expect that Mr Golding will face resistance from some of his Cabinet colleagues who operate in constituencies with gangs, whose behaviour may benefit their political organisations. The prime minister, however, seems aware that this is his only chance of recapturing his reputation, or some form of national rehabilitation. That, hopefully, will be enough incentive to stare down the resisters.

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