Giuliani’s help is welcome

THE EDITOR: I salute the initiative of CLICO Chairman Mr Lawrence Duprey in inviting the former Mayor of New York city Rudolph Giuliani and his former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to share with us the benefit of their experience in tackling that Herculean task of crime suppression in New York city and the astounding success they were able to achieve.

Hopefully, members of the executive rank of our Police Service would make it imperative to be in attendance on such occasion.  In an earlier article, I suggested to the powers-that-be that, in the appointing of a new Police Commissioner, serious consideration should be given to having some one from outside the rank of the Service (“lateral entry”). I think most will agree that in recent times the Police Service and its ability to perform has come under heavy criticism from the general public.  Their performance in handling the present crime situation cannot be considered satisfactory.  Their lacklustre approach keeps sending the wrong signals to the criminals.  Having said that, it must be admitted that in recent times the Police Service has seen the departure of many of its experienced and astute officers as a result of having reached the retirement age.

This exodus, of course, is having a debilitating effect on the entire Service. Of course this is not a condemnation of the officers who are there to fill the void, most of whom are dedicated and hard working.  However, what is conspicuous here is the lack of experience to handle the unprecedented wave of crime being experienced in the country. This is where the question of an outside appointment to the office of Commissioner must be given consideration.  The outsider will not only bring fresh ideas, but will likely see things that ate wrong that those on the inside may have over looked or did not see at all. Not only this, but he is going to come up with different perspectives and suggest changes that otherwise would never have been considered.  We have just seen the British Government — yes, the home of the great Scotland Yard; hiring the Boston Police Commissioner Paul F Evans to help their country improve its crime-fighting techniques, praising him for dramatically reducing crime in the American city.

It must never be felt that such innovative ideas are likely to create stagnation in the upper ranks of the Service.  We must look at the bigger picture.  Right now the country is faced with an unprecedented wave of crime and lawlessness of the highest magnitude; the police must find ways and means to combat the situation because the country is entirely dependant on them.  Therefore, any form of assistance that can be had to help alleviate the situation, must be welcomed.  For those advocates who are suggesting the placing of 1,000 SRPs on the street as an answer to the problem — my advice to them is to ‘think again.’

VICTOR ARCHIE
Trincity