Ian Boyne

The prime minister has warned that we should be prepared to give up some rights in the fight against crime, and it was fitting that he had the Opposition leader literally beside him when he gave that signal after the Vale Royal Talks last Wednesday. It is absolutely important that we get bipartisan agreement on this crucial issue.

But it is not just bipartisan agreement that we need. We need the agreement of the entire society, and we cannot afford this time to have any drawn-out, knock-down fight among ourselves over this issue. Fortunately for the prime minister, he has much cache and political capital with the local human rights community, who would normally have been quick on the draw in condemning any such suggestion from any other political leader. Let's not make that itself an issue, but be grateful that we have a political leader whose credibility with, and trust among, the human rights community stand him (and us as a society) in good stead to bring them on board on this far-reaching matter.

working as a team

It was good to hear Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller say we have to be prepared to fight crime unitedly and to take extraordinary measures to do so. Peter Phillips had said the same thing as national security minister, but he was clobbered on the talk shows interminably for saying so. But let bygones be bygones. We are faced with a crisis and disunity is too costly a luxury.

The prime minister is right that the society has to be persuaded that adopting unconventional methods to fight the terrorism (my word) we face is necessary.

No less a street-smart and man-in-the-know columnist than Mark Wignall in his appropriately sombre column on Thursday ('This is crisis, make the declaration now') wrote: "My suggestion at this time is for the Government to declare a state of emergency in certain communities/constituencies/ pockets for specific durations."

Wignall does not write these things lightly or idly. No one in the media has his ears to the inner-city ground more than he does. He speaks with authenticity on these matters, whatever his biases are on other matters. And Don Robotham has called for preventive detention of suspected criminals for up to 90 days.

clear, present danger

With all the talk about the need for social intervention, moral retrofitting, robust economic growth, jobs, jobs, jobs and reform of the police force, the fact is that we face a clear and present danger with terrorism and an immediate crisis of security. As Wignall put it in his column, "Unless we are prepared to scrap the force now, we have no other choice but to work with it. This country is at war with a small, tightly-knit, well-armed band of desperadoes who have demonstrated over the years and in recent months their ease and lust in spilling blood and walking free to many repetitions."

Last week a man who appeared in court in the morning to have a case prosecuted was gunned down in the afternoon before he reached home. Well-known gangstas can walk free because witnesses to their criminality are not foolish enough to testify in court to put them away, when their lives and those of their loved ones can be snuffed out more easily than you can squash mosquitoes.

articles on crime

In the meantime, columnists continue to write foolish articles about "crime being more than a policing problem" or a security issue, when that is a truism. It is impatient of debate and no one believes that it's just a policing issue. But we are faced with an immediate threat this minute, not tomorrow, when we can start to fix all the things which the talk-show hosts, commentators and well-fed analysts like to talk about as necessary. And, indeed, they are necessary. But we must not make the important the enemy of the urgent.

Our crisis is deepened by the fact that many in our police force are corrupt, incompetent and have no credibility with the people. We did not need the Thompson Report to tell us that.

But they are what we have to work with this minute, and until we get to implement the 100-odd recommendations of Brother Herbert and his committee, there are still lives to be saved this hour and we have to work with this same group of men to do so.

Opposition spokesman Peter Phillips gave an excellent sectoral presentation this week, and quite impressively showed what the PNP administration had achieved in security over the last few years. The JLP government is clearly building on this foundation - and it has been a solid foundation, though much more needed and needs to be done. But it is not that nothing has been done or that we don't know what to do. I endorse the recommendations by Phillips, though I am not too sure about the home guard part.

strategic vision

But Phillips was bang on target in his analysis and strategic vision. And he made a critically important point in his conclusion. Pointing to the "special responsibility" of those on both sides of Parliament, he said "The question is whether we have the political will, have the moral authority to lead the mobilisation effort" against crime. Then he want on to make the telling point: "Each of us must begin by ensuring that we are not compromised by connections we may have; that we are unequivocal in our support for law enforcement; that we do not give lip service to bipartisan dialogue while at the same time fanning the flames of political tribalism; that we have the courage to isolate drug and crime bosses who seek coverage under our political umbrella."

As I have maintained, there is much that the politicians can do to stop criminality in this county. Increasing pressure must be brought on them by civil society. That is among the most urgent things which need to happen, along with the hard policing and social intervention strategies and other measures which are being recommended. The de-garrisonisation of our communities, the cutting off of the contracts to criminals euphemistically called 'area leaders' or 'businessmen'; the refusal to accept their turf dominance are absolutely necessary and cannot be delayed.

measure to fight crime

Prime Minister Bruce Golding (left) and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller (centre) field questions from members of the media following bipartisan talks between Government and the Opposition at Vale Royal in St Andrew, on Wednesday. Government minister Karl Samuda (second left), Opposition Member of Parliament Roger Clarke (back), national security minister Colonel Trevor MacMillan and opposition security spokesman Dr Peter Phillips (right) are also pictured.- Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

But even as I advocate strong and resolute measures to be adopted to fight crime in the short term; and while I strongly back the prime minister in the view that the protection of the people is the primary responsibility of the state, and go on to say that in modern society human rights cannot be protected if the state fails, I fully accept that much more needs to be done to strengthen security.

Strengthening security is more than crime fighting. In fact, it should be a very small part. We are not dealing with an either/or situation as I constantly try to point out to those who are pitting social intervention, economic prosperity, egalitarianism or values and attitudes over hard, tough policing and harsh and punitive legislative action.

The issue of our values and attitudes has to be centre-staged in any discussion on a medium-term solution to our crime problem.

package of issues

There is a whole package of issues which we have to discuss.

We must stop the piecemeal approach to fighting crime. It is not hard policing versus social intervention; intelligent evidence-gathering versus moral transformation. It is both - and not either/or.

Though he was shouted down by the Big Boys, and scolded by the Observer editorially, the finance minister raised a significant issue for all of us when he made the startling point last week that 68 per cent of the tax arrears in the country are corporate income tax arrears. "It is like one per cent of Jamaica paying 75 per cent of corporate taxes," he said. That is as criminal as a ghetto man robbing a bank. And that kind of corporate tax dodging results in the deaths of Jamaicans as much as the deaths accounted for by criminals. Poverty kills!

Shaw revealed that total tax arrears without interest and penalties stood at $59 billion. You know what that could do if a fraction were spent on security and social intervention programmes? If some of that were spent on education, to improve our disastrous GSAT results? Yes, we have to take a holistic approach to fighting crime. We have to level the playing field and we have to deal with the class and power issues which are a major source of the bitterness and resentment which we have fostered in our inner cities.

I am happy that we all agree that crime fighting is more than just policing. But I wonder whether all of us are prepared to follow the conversation where it really ought to lead.

Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist who may be reached at ianboyne1@yahoo.com. Feedback may also be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com