he first and most important function of a g overnment is to maintain law and order, which is absolutely critical to the achievement of a safe environment for people to work, live, raise families and do business.

That is the laudable goal of Vision 2030, the much-touted National Development Plan, but which seems to be drifting farther and farther away from realisation.

The data on crime, corruption, violence, and murder indicate that the security situation has not improved over the years, and many would argue that it has got worse. Some people have already gone as far as to suggest that Jamaica is a failed state on the basis of the breakdown in law and order.

In our view, however, using this criteria, that it is a debatable question as to whether Jamaica is a failed state. We don’t believe we are there yet, given that crime is still largely relegated to some inner-city enclaves.

Yet even at that, no one disputes the fact that crime and violence has adversely affected the quality of life and retarded economic growth, while posing a clear and present danger to tourism, upon which so much is relying.

Neither does anyone disagree that the long- term solution to crime and violence is economic development in which the majority of our people get better off through more jobs, better education, and improved health care in which the Government takes the lead.

Such development is, at best, quite difficult to achieve, and is in the distant future. But it is certainly possible in the short run to do more to control crime.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/jamaica-needs-a-larger-police-force_105647