THE EDITOR, Sir:

ONE OF the most heated discussions that have permeated the entire society is the high crime rate.

After listening to several debates and opinions from the so-called experts on this topic, I reflected on a story I read some time ago about two veterinary doctors who were having a very heated and almost hostile debate about the number of teeth found in a horse's mouth. A five-year-old kid who was standing nearby suggested that they could get a horse, open the mouth and count the teeth; with this the debate ended.

Sometimes the so-called learned among us are not the wisest nor do they possess the power of reasoning that will enable us to achieve that which we so desperately seek, as they are lacking in street-smart techniques and common sense.

How can the police be blamed?

If a police force should be as good as the information it receives, and our leaders are unable to encourage our citizens to provide the information when necessary or required, enabling them to have a greater positive impact on crime, how then can you hold the police force totally responsible for not being able to bring the high crime rate down to a tolerable level?

I am having a serious problem with the thinking of those who are given the mandate to find solutions to this epidemic which seems to permeate the entire society, while they continue to focus entirely on the alleged corruption in the police force.

Enforce laws

To have us believe that the alleged corruption in the police force is in any way responsible for the high murder rate of reprisal killings, gang-related murders, etc, is ludicrous. To believe the above, then someone needs to explain in what way corruption in the force contributed to over 4,000 murders in the last four years, and the spiralling of the murder rate since 2008.

Maybe we need to focus more on the citizens of this country in regards to their total disrespect for law and order, their acts of corruption that seemingly are accepted by the society at large as a way of life. We need to enforce the laws that are on the books, capital punishment included, bearing in mind at all times that justice must not only be done, but appear to be done.

Society of mistrust

Oh yes! The citizens do not trust the police, but do they trust each other? Was there ever a census taken to verify this? There is mistrust in the entire society fuelled by politics and religious doctrine. Until we can cause our people to love, trust, and respect each other regardless of their political, religious or social differences, we will continue on this downward spiral ending in a quagmire.

Our leaders and all those in authority must lead from the front, setting good examples that, when emulated, will create the kind of civil society we can be proud of; in which our elders can grow old gracefully, remembering that good behaviour, if replicated, does society good and the opposite destroys society.

Drawing the line

All political leaders should desist from accepting social invitations, etc, from dons and unscrupulous persons with hidden agendas; something must be wrong with this kind of behaviour.

All public servants should be made to realise that if they break the code of conduct, they will be exposed; no cover up, no special treatment.

I remain sanguine that those in authority will see that justice is not only done, but appears to be done. Then and only then, maybe, we will start getting the trust and resolve from our citizens that we so desperately seek.

I am, etc.,

A.R.PHIIDD (Sr), JP

teddyphidd1@yahoo.com