The Editor, Sir,:

Commissioner Lewin is a brave, adventurous, receptive, and thinking man, a rarity in that position for a long time. He brings to the position the freshness of holistic sociological thought instead of the expected authoritarian and sometimes intransigent inflexible approach bent on maintaining the status quo.

This is the man who noted before he got his new post that crime cannot be halted unless we "close the factories for criminals". He now advises the police under his command "use your brains and not your guns" and is proceeding to take the collaterally lethal M16 rifle out of the hands of the police.

There are howls from some ill-advised quarters that he is opening the police to be outgunned by the criminal element and in fact what the police needs is more fire power to ensure that they are victorious in the violence and arms race on our streets. Mr Lewin obviously wants to stop that, so somebody has to step back; and he has rightly chosen to spearhead this disarmament process while changing the image of the police from an occupying brutish force to a civilian organisation designed to serve, protect and reassure the citizens of a modern democratic society that is not at war with itself.

This society is being soaked by ill-tempered and potentially dysfunctional violence that it has now become commonplace even among intellectuals and persons in important decision-making positions to denote Jamaica as a 'violent and corrupt society' with many unwittingly willing to deepen and perpetuate this process. Sir, violent murderous gun-toting people are not born, they are created and nurtured by the society and then reinforced by a learning/socialisation process sometimes through the homes, dancehalls, media, churches, homes, schools and communities, and various other institutions.

The reform should begin in earnest towards a gentler, more humane, decent, respectful and peaceful society. It is against this background that I assess the commissioner's moves and utterances. He should be given all the support, he cannot do it alone, neither can the teachers, armed or not. Sir, the society is a whole and we must recognise that there should be a functional relationship between all the parts; one will not succeed without the other.

All Jamaica should join in saying, "Go, Commissioner, Go, history will absolve you" while we watch every move he makes and every word he says.

I am, etc.,

MICHAEL SPENCE

micspen2@hotmail.com

PO Box 630

Liguanea, Kingston 6