THE SEEMINGLY random slaughter of our people, including children in the full bloom of youth; the violent attacks on citizens from all walks of life across the length and breadth of Jamaica, and the apparent inability of the security forces to halt or even retard the rate of killings are raising public anxiety and the feeling that the society is moving closer to anarchy.
In response to the various brutal attacks, we have collectively expressed anger and outrage, condemnation and denunciation, but until and unless the justice system is seen to be working in a way to make appropriate examples of the criminals among us, more and more people will feel obliged to take matters into their own hands. Many of our people who have never been hesitant to implement their own form of mob justice are less likely to exercise restraint when they have reason to believe there are criminal suspects among them. The anger displayed in Morant Bay recently after a man was detained in connection with the slaughter of a family of five, including three children, points to a simmering anger. The society is on edge.
As we have said repeatedly in articles on this page, the security forces need the help of citizens of goodwill to flush out the criminals from the various communities. But once again we must press the point that the security forces have to redouble their own efforts in investigating crime. At this stage we can take little comfort in the police trotting out statistics telling us that the rate of crime is showing a downward trend. It is still much too high.
Increasingly, too, citizens have to take greater responsibility for their own safety. Some of the crimes being committed seem so random and arbitrary that there is very little that the police can do or could have done in the circumstances to prevent them. But at the very least, to the extent that there is some closure resulting from arrests and eventual conviction, is the extent to which the society can have an assurance that all is not lost. We must all play our part to prevent total anarchy.
The attacks on defenceless children are particularly heinous and no effort must be spared in bringing their killers to justice.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
