Recent statistics released by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) show that murders have declined this year and are projected to be under 1,000, the first time we will be seeing this for over 20 years.
These statistics show a 35 per cent decrease year on year and are a welcome relief to a population which has been living with murder rates that have seen Jamaica rank among the deadliest countries to live in for years. For decades, the country has been under siege from gangs who have turned parts of the country into killing fields and no-go zones. For decades, people have had to worry if they would become victims of violent crime, as the gunmen, in their desire to take out their opponents, do not hesitate to kill innocent people.
As noted, the drop is welcome, it will give people a chance to breathe again, if only for a short moment, and assess a country which was once peaceful, especially since this decline has also been accompanied by a decline in other major crimes. However, despite this decline, the people, when polled, still rank crime as top of their worry list. And despite the arguments put forward by the JCF that people are safer now than they were 5 years ago, the general public still feels as if things are not where they should be, despite the gains or that the gains will even be long-term.
The worry about the long-term viability of these gains is a valid one. Following the incursion into Tivoli and the strong State presence in the form of military and police, murders and other major crimes also saw a decline over a few years, but this was not maintained for many reasons, and crime, including murders, returned to its old highs and eventually new records were broken. It is feared that the issues which led to the eventual return to high murders have not been dealt with and that only surface-level issues have been dealt with.
The primary and most visible surface-level issue is the gunman, the one who pulls the trigger and his direct accomplices. This is what haunts most Jamaicans in their sleep and increasingly as they are awake and is what the JCF has been dealing with most visibly. The police have been dealing with them by shooting them and doing so at an increased rate. According to the JCF, these fatal shootings, which INDECOM has stated has seen a 22 per cent increase, are as a result of members of the force being engaged by these gunmen at an increased rate. As Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) and INDECOM have both noted, it is difficult to prove the JCF’s version to be 100 per cent accurate as no body-worn cameras have been used in any of these matters.
Are the police just doing the easy work because the other way entails more work and could see these alleged gunmen get off due to less than diligent work on the part of the JCF or the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions? We may never know, but if history is a judge, we can safely bet that some members of the JCF have been tempted and probably done this. If this is the case, then this does not bode well for the long-term decline of murders and other violent crimes as we will only see new gunmen rise and take their place, wreaking havoc and mayhem upon us only to have the JCF kill them and the cycle repeat itself. We have done this before, it does not work in the long term, it disrupts and destroys gangs but only breeds animosity and leaves avenues open for up-and-coming killers to fill the void.
Despite the promotion of the decline in murders by the former police commissioner and the current office holder, the public still feels insecure. This is for many reasons, but I believe a big reason for this perception is that the murders are still at an unacceptably high level. Despite us looking set to go below 1,000 murders, 900 or 800 dead bodies in Spanish Town and other communities leaves people in a state of fear and a sense of siege. Another reason is that the country experiences many murders which are not gang-related, as noted by the increase in contract killings of business rivals, business partners, spouses, or people in a general squabble.
We also see general domestic violence and interpersonal disputes ending in violence and death. This, along with the constant viewing of dead bodies in communities, has led people to believe, rightly or wrongly, that things are not as rosy as the JCF is making it out to be and that they still need to sleep with their doors and windows firmly bolted shut.
The recruitment issues of the JCF have been resolved, and they seem to be taking in quality recruits but more needs to be one. The ODPP needs to get increased funding to facilitate hiring more Crown counsel to prosecute the many cases which await them if the improved JCF catches these killers. The courts need more funding so trials can take place in a speedy manner and that they are not facing delays. But more importantly, if the crime is to continue to remain down, a societal shift is needed. This societal shift is along the lines of the values and attitudes programme envisioned by the former Prime Minister PJ Patterson and would seek to go beyond schools and impact Jamaicans of all ages and backgrounds.
A reason that we have such high murder rates and crime in general is that the sense of community has all but disappeared from the country. We are a every man for himself and damn the other society which is seen in the fact that homeless people get their heads busted open and killed by people just seeking their jollies. We live in a country where it is deemed ok to have children starve in a community with no one coming forward to help them and their families. We live in a country where it is felt that a man is entitled to a woman’s body so he is offended, murderously so, when she breaks up with him or cheats on him.
Until the ideas behind scamming and fast cash are made to look silly, people will idolise them and commit the crime in order to be like them or carve out their own spaces. A societal shift is needed, a change of the mindset so we look out for each other, eschew the ideas of the fast flashy life and go back to community. This is not a call for the abandonment of modern niceties, it is a change of mindset so the modern niceties do not become our masters. Nor is this me saying the old ideas are the best. As we grow we must discard old, bad ideas while at the same time retaining the good ones.
Crime will not be fixed by a “hail Mary”. It will take time and effort but it can be done. The people deserve to live in peace and while more can be done they welcome this break. But let us not forget that more can be done and after the low hanging fruit will come the task of changing society. This will be a hard task, but it must be done if we are to have peace in this country.
