We need a fighting general against crime
The Editor: "Fighting men are the city’s fortress," taken from the book of quotations, this age old adage holds true even today. In the war against crime our fighting men who are expected to stop the barbarians at the gate have fallen asleep on the job. It took four bomb blasts and a public "bouf" from Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley to awaken Police Commissioner Trevor Paul from his slumber. Amazingly, he states that from now on the police service will be in a zero tolerance mode against crime. We must remember the police service receiving a 33 percent salary increase a couple years ago with a promise that they will deliver a better service now that they are being properly paid. This has not happened. Former Commissioner and deceased ace crime fighter Randolph Burroughs apparently was the fast fighting man at the gates. He was unceremoniously drummed out of the service under clouds of wrong doings including charges of drug dealing. Although acquitted the Burroughs era came to an end with him being sent on pre-retiring leave and exiting the service. Somewhere in the works a kinder softer commissioner emerged. Gone was the field marshall who strode the battlefield with his troops. A slew of unknown desk jockeys, ageing men with seniority and close to retirement succeeded Burroughs. Whoever designed this new type of commissioner must by now have realised that this was a mistake. The latest incarnation Trevor Paul raises the same puzzling questions. The public cannot recall his rise through the ranks as a crime fighter. Crime fighting like war needs a fighting general, a character who knows the battlefield, a strategist who can thwart the relentless enemy that crime is, with cunning and a tolerable level or ruthlessness. Commissioner Paul must transform himself into a fighting general and lead his troops into decisive battle against the criminal armies who have all but overwhelmed the society he and his men have sworn to protect and serve. Mc Donald James COUVA
Comments
"We need a fighting general against crime"