Letters

Solutions for curbing crime in Jamaica

The Editor, Madam:

After a series of closed meetings with the Jamaicans in my office complex, I would like to present some suggestions on curbing crime in Jamaica. Please pass these on to the Minister of Justice and by extension to the Leader. Too often we condemn, but offer no sound alternatives. I hope these crime solutions will be considered:

1. Have the Minister go on television and address the criminals directly. Look them in the eye and tell them their days are numbered, as we have reached a boiling point.

2. Place a curfew in the war-torn areas of Kingston, and have regular patrols done by the JDF. This will strike fear in the hearts of the gunmen. Leave the police free to deal with traffic offences and to maintain peace in less volatile areas.

3. There is a viable work force languishing away within your prisons. Put them to work. Because of the corruption in the facilities, placing these criminals in public could be dangerous, so consider implanting homing devices subcutaneously, so they can be found if escape occurs.

4. Resume capital punishment. The nation can ill afford prolonged 'hotel accommodations' for the irredeemable.

5. Print a schedule of punishment for proven offences committed, e.g. rape ­ punishable by castration; shooting with intent ­ both hands amputated (how can someone with no hands shoot again?) and murder ­ death by lethal injection.

6. Fingerprint everybody. In a nation gone wild such as ours, innocent people will realise that this is for their own good.

7. The Government should stop importing granulated sugar from Colombia. I read earlier this year that a container with granulated sugar "disappeared" from the wharf.

8. Declare a few more public holidays. As far as I can remember, the guns are usually silent during festive periods.

9. Pay the police a decent salary. They are placing their lives on the line and are becoming more corrupt because of lack of support.

'Brawta' point: Send the Minister of Justice a copy of The Art of War, written over 2,000 years ago by Chinese philosopher Chung Tzu. It is a masterpiece and indispensable to anyone who would lead.

I am sure there will be others with suggestions, but I am thankful I can keep my sanity through sense of humour.

I am etc.,

Jennifer Stoner

jstoner2005@yahoo.com

Gainesville, Florida

Via Go-Jamaica

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