Police statistics not impressive
Published:Monday | January 11, 2010 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I am quite sure no one was fooled by the attempt of acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds to get us to believe that the Jamaica Constabulary Force achieved major operational successes in 2009.
The acting deputy commissioner needed to be more specific in the way he presented the figures. For example, Hinds said the police apprehended 993 wanted persons in the period. The gentleman needed to clarify what he meant by 'apprehended'. Did he mean 'arrested and charged', or 'arrested and released without being charged'? This clarification becomes more urgent in light of the fact that he later stated that 32,923 persons were arrested and charged in the same period.
WANTED FOR WHAT?
The ongoing 70 per cent of unsolved murders in this country sends chills up the spines of all of its citizens. It would, therefore, be comforting if the acting deputy commissioner had told us how many of the 32,923 and the 993 persons arrested and charged/ apprehended were murder cases.
We notice that he is basking in what he calls "increased police presence". But those of us who still live in Jamaica are unable to verify such a claim since we don't see the police after certain hours. Besides, has this "increased police presence" translated into the arresting and charging of even 30 per cent of those who murdered over 1,600 of our brothers and sisters in 2009? Not to mention the tens of thousands who were murdered over the past many years?
TANGIBLE RESULTS
Instead of coming up with meaningless figures, the acting deputy commissioner and his colleagues need to start crafting and effecting crime-fighting measures to eliminate serious crimes in Jamaica, especially murder. How much longer must the nation wait on these men to get it right?
I am, etc.,
CASHLEY BROWN