The Editor, Sir:

Another police commissioner has ended his tenure and our crime stats do not indicate him leaving a legacy of success. While one does not want to jump off the rails of common sense, it must be clear to all that business as usual, or tweaks thereto, is not going to make a difference. I offer the following as an idea that I'm hoping someone much smarter than I can debunk or, if there is some validity, help move us forward.

An army exists primarily to defend against external threats. Whereas in the days of the British empire and thereafter during the Cold War there was threat of invasion (whether literal or ideological), with its immense levels or crime and violence and poverty, Jamaica would seem hardly like to be on any country's must-have list. Why then do we need an army?

What the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) has is an ability to mould young men and women into disciplined, capable fighters; that capability in and of itself is highly useful to the country, but I doubt that having an army in a state of readiness really is.

How about combining the JDF and JCF; pulling officers from the JDF into the police force, teaching the soldiers the legalities of policing while teaching the police military tactics needed to fight gangs. We should endeavour to put every man and woman trained to use a firearm on the streets to protect the public and restore order. One budget, one mandate, one name and the consolidation of support systems (I know as a fact that the army has excellent information systems personnel that the police could leverage; I assume that is true of other departments) and one leader.

The inevitable outcome

It seems to me that having a man like Commissioner Lewin, or before him, MacMillan, who has led both of these divisions, would have led to a discussion such as this.

The reality is that we already have a lot of soldiers working, joint operations and, therefore, this is not altogether strange. But the notion (real or perceived) that there are other men shining boots and doing formation marching at Up Park Camp or Newcastle, looking out over the seas for an invading force, while our country descends into ruins, defies logic.

I am, etc.,

BRUCE W. MCKNIGHT

bruce_mcknight@hotmail.com

Ontario, Canada