With violence mounting by the day in Jamaica, changing the commissioner of police alone will not solve Jamaica's crime problem. The Bruce Golding government needs to strengthen the training and equipping of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) with the powerful new technologies of the 21st century.

While technology has advanced rapidly in the last two decades, law-enforcement agencies have faced increased difficulty in protecting the safety and security of Jamaica. The police make for easy targets because they are outgunned, under-resourced and inadequately equipped. If we want to keep crime rates going down, we have to make sure that law-enforcement agents across the country are able to make the best of all these new advances and use them effectively.

The decline in the quality and effectiveness of the JCF has degenerated into the failure of past and current governments' apparatus to provide the police with up-to-date technologies. There are three major areas of concentration for the JCF to work properly: implementing telecommunications-interception measures, fortifying the marine police, and increasing community policing.

lawful interception

The first area that should be looked into is giving the police lawful interception of telecommunications. Most countries, including the United States, have a procedure to permit and regulate lawful interception of communications in furtherance of law enforcement, or to protect national security. This will require service providers to include interception capability in their networks, which will supply basic subscriber information to law-enforcement agencies on request. Intercepting telecommunications is justified to fight crime, especially before it happens.

The Government could ask the privatesector businesses to help fund surveillance cameras in the most volatile communities and other places. The new equipment will assist the police to gather intelligence and effectively crack down on crime. High-tech criminals would be met by high-tech police.

Second, the marine police is ill-equipped to counter crimes which occur in Jamaica's numerous waterways and territorial sea along its coastline. Times and crimes have changed. It would be impossible to improve maritime security without increasing maritime security assets. The old-type police patrol boats must be replaced by much faster and better-equipped vessels. The marine police, perhaps together with the Jamaica Defence Force's Coast Guard, will have to enhance their information and radar-intelligence network to assist in tracking the fast-moving drug smugglers.

community partnerships

The third area I would like to address is the increase of community policing. Government and the police must strengthen and sustain strong community partnerships across Jamaica. Members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and citizens must build relationships; build on mutual respect, understanding and trust. Community policing stresses prevention, early identification, and timely intervention to deal with issues before they become unwieldy problems.

The next commissioner of police will fail if the Government is not able to upgrade the JCF to a 21st-century force. Modern security requires a whole new way of thinking by the Government, and a whole new system such as the country has never had.

The Government must stop talking about taking steps and start taking action by providing the police force with the resources to help break the vicious cycle of violence that grips our country.

I am, etc.,

NEVILLE CARNEGIE

New Jersey