The Editor, Sir:

I refer to an article in The Sunday Gleaner dated January 20, titled 'The Tivoli 5' by Edward Seaga, in which he spoke of the many incursions by the police into Tivoli Gardens.

Mr. Seaga, after detailing a plethora of unfortunate incidents in which several persons lost their lives, sought to analyse and rationalise the last such incident which occurred on January 13, and stated at the end of his contribution "but the failure of their primary mission does not give them the right to pursue a secondary mission", which seemed to suggest that the failure of the police in locating the wanted men, which was supposedly their primary objective, did not give them the right to pursue other objectives, a statement, which in my view, was unfortunate coming from an esteemed statesman as Mr. Seaga.

Operated within rights

While one can understand the concerns of Mr. Seaga considering previous experiences, he is well aware that the police have the power to pursue criminals and to prevent certain activities within perimeters allowed by the law, providing the rights of citizens are observed. It would seem that in both these areas the police discharged their obligations, a fact which was confirmed by the councillor and mayor, Desmond McKenzie, when he stated that the police acted professionally.

The fact that the police took the opportunity to search other areas in Tivoli Gardens and seized several weapons was, therefore, within their right.

I am, etc.,

ERROL McLEISH

ermarlii16@hotmail.com

Daytona, Portmore

St. Catherine