Crime solution beyond police

Where have we heard this before? Is it on the previous occasion when another person was shot to death? No. In fact it was on the occasion of the last 400 and more murders committed last year and the 400 plus the year before, and before that, and on and on.

This commissioner wants the public to support the police and makes this clear on every occasion on which he speaks. It has been repeatedly pointed out that the police are the reason for that lack of cooperation but our respected commissioner does not seem able to grasp the concept.

Here is what his public relations officer says: the police have solved(?) seven murders for the year so far and recites that as a percentage of the number of murders in 2017 (27 at the time), but is forced to concede that of the seven murders solved(?) only two were committed in 2017; the others are for previous years.

With this standard of forthrightness, it is no wonder that the country cannot trust the police and there is little hope for an improvement in the future.

It may be true that as a foreign diplomat John Estrada may have been stepping out of his crease with his statement that the commissioner should fire himself, but he may be excused as a former citizen, whose “navel string is buried here”. The truth is that he was simply saying something that needed to be said out of concern for the country where he was born.

The solution appears to be beyond the capability of the people with responsibility for providing solutions, as so many other things, but concerned citizens must be wondering where it will all end.

Karan Mahabirsingh Carapichaima