Who or what is the Public Defender defending?

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Some questions for the Public Defender:

Recent pronouncements from the Office of the Public Defender have left me wondering if she is losing it. After Zones of Special Operations and the State of Emergency both St. James and St. Catherine North has quelled the bloodletting and weekly stacking of bodies in morgues in both parishes, she is demanding that it be brought to an end. For whose benefit should the security forces pull back, may I ask?

Shouldn't your office be defending the public? Doesn't your request clearly run counter to that mandate? What is your motive?

Why won't some persons with public office stop the self-aggrandisement and showboating and allow for national development? Think on this: the residents in both St. James and St. Catherine North are happy for both the security forces' intervention and the silencing of the gunmen's gun. So what exactly is the issue now for the Public Defender?

I am going to suggest that the focus of that office be turned on these three areas: dangerous roads the public have to contend with daily in some communities; the disparity in wages in many organisations afflicting our citizens, and, finally the ridiculous water bills from National Water Commission in Crescent District, Damhead, Spanish Town, St. Catherine.

Joseph Edwards