Martin HenryWithin 24 hours of an excellent open-air public lecture on 'Reversing Crime and Creating Safe Communities', put on by the University of Technology (UTech), six more Jamaicans were slaughtered, pushing the murder toll over the 600 mark.
Last Tuesday evening [May 20], town and gown met in the Papine Park to reason about the nation's number-one concern: crime and violence. Although there was a main presenter, Robert Finzi-Smith, chief of security at the university, the session was genuinely a community reasoning. It was great to see how many people were attentively engaged in the event, from schoolers who should be hurrying home, and youth on the wall, to vendors and bigger merchants.
The police, whom the blunt former JDF man Finzi-Smith took on, were there in some numbers, from Deputy Commissioner Mark Sheilds and his protective detail, to paramilitary Mobile Reserve men, and the local Papine police. As the chairman observed, the arms - automatic rifles - and bulletproof vests of the Mobile Reserve posse were a stark indication of where crime and violence had reached and the unsafety of our streets and communities for both citizens and police.
For a brief one hour and 20 minutes, or so, it was a joy to behold the peaceful, relaxed engagement of people and police in the Papine Park as they freely participated in UTech's crime-and-violence forum. In a different setting, it could have been more of the old confrontation. As the lecturer, like so many others before pointed out, this collaboration of law-abiding people and the police is vital to reversing crime and violence and creating safe communities.
double entendre
My title for this piece has, of course, double entendre and deliberately so: UTech, in the public square, discussing the crime situation; but also crime, has boldly invaded the public square. One question-time speaker recounted the grisly details of the shooting of the young cosmetologist in the middle of Half-Way Tree in the middle of the day and the killer simply walking away. But that could only happen because of the weakness of neighbourly involvement and the strength of the fear factor, themes running through Finzi-Smith's presentation.
"The most culpable persons in the rise of crime since the '60s stare us in the face every day: the person we see in the mirror. Finzi-Smith did a loop with the dual citizenship debate. "Almost every Jamaican has enjoyed 'dual citizenship' for the past 40 years, owing allegiance to party first and country second."
Using 1968, 40 years ago, as his point of departure, the Israeli-trained security expert, Finzi-Smith, tapped media reports and police statistics to underscore the escalating violent crime situation and decreasing public safety. As murders have increased, so has the clear-up rate [arrests made] declined. With 110 murders in 1968, the benchmark year, the clear-up rate was 77 per cent; but in 2007, with 1,583 murders, a 14-fold growth, clear-up was only 34 per cent. This state of affairs provides a powerful explanation in criminology as to why crime flourishes so much: As the risk of detection and apprehension declines, calculating criminals are emboldened.
But as Finzi-Smith was quick to point out, improved detection and apprehension require that citizens and the police support each other. But the 'informa fi dead' culture of silence is strong. In the garrisons created out of the poverty and lack of opportunity of the inner city, reminiscent of the pre-Emancipation slave barracks, "the rules are simple: Vote right, close your mouth, demonstrate on cue, and don't talk to the police," said Finzi-Smith.
Underprivileged youth have learned the lessons of violent criminality, which have been taught with zeal: divide and conquer. Fear is your greatest weapon. Firepower superiority guarantees safety. Cruelty brings respect. And violent response to disrespect is one of the greatest sources of violent crime in the country.
Finzi-Smith drew an interesting correlation between violent popular music and rising violent criminality, rattling off the top song for the year from 1968 alongside the rising murder figure.
dismissing the policing approach
The bodyguard man from his JDF days dismisses the policing approach of countering force with force and offers his own package of crime-and-violence-reduction solutions, which are primarily based on more respect from the police and more collaboration between citizens and police.
The lecturer advocated customer-service training for the police and incorporating the reading of rights to persons being arrested. He wants a category of state crimes to be created with harsher penalties than regular crimes while pointing out, I think correctly, that young criminals with the 'born fi dead' mentality and short life expectancy fear long-term incarceration more than the death penalty. State crimes would include crimes across parish borders.
Hard-labour sentences should be enforced on productive projects. CSI capability should be improved; and licensed firearm holders, and Finzi-Smith favours more of them, should be used to create a police reserve. Speaking out of the University of Technology, he wants to have more extensive training in forensics; and the university is, in fact, moving in this direction. The lecturer wants to see the education of prisoners for post-release usefulness, pointing out that the repeat offender is driving criminality.
Investigation for illicit assets should be aggressively pushed, as well as plea bargaining. Crime-prone communities should be rehabilitated for tourism, the efficiency of the justice system must be improved, and CCTV installed in major towns.
The UTech public reasoning on 'Reversing Crime and Creating Safe Communities' brought academia, the public and the police into a rare moment of crime-fighting solidarity in the public square. It is this engagement, the main presenter emphasised, which is going to reverse crime and violence and create safe communities.
Martin Henry is a communications consultant. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com
