The Editor, Sir:

In his plea for support of the six anti-crime bills before Parliament, some of which are considered draconian, Member of Parliament Pearnel Charles, says, "We have tried everything else."

No, Mr Charles, we have not tried everything else.

1. We have not seriously tried beefing up the numbers and investigative capacity of the police force.

2. We have not seriously tried improving the Justice System for delivering swift, fair trial and punishment, sending the signal that crime does not pay.

Zero tolerance

3. We have not seriously tried zero tolerance, with the overwhelming evidence from case studies that policing misdemeanours drives down serious crimes.

4. We have not seriously tried identifying and taking out the crime dons and the criminal gangs.

5. We have not seriously tried dismantling the crime-factory garrisons politically, socially and economically.

6. We have not tried seriously to identify at-risk boys for crimes and to rescue them.

7. We have not seriously used crime statistics to focus police anti-crime response, like a laser beam, on criminal targets.

8. We have failed to make a sufficient number of arrests of crime kingfish, which may include politicians.

9. We have not seriously tried the maintenance of public order as an anti-crime strategy, including the regularisation of human settlements to allow policing.

10. We have not seriously tried weaning communities, and women in particular, from the proceeds of crime through special employment, skills training and other social programmes.

Basic human rights

What we seem bent on doing is returning to the failed Suppression of Crime Act through the backdoor, further brutalising a segment of the population with harsh, broad-brush measures and further curtailing basic human rights. Hostility against the state and its security and justice systems is already a major cause of crime and violence.

I am, etc.,

MARTIN HENRY

medhen@gmail.com