Back in 2011 when the COP arrived in the Federation I had a conversation with him where I indicated that he had a massive task in front of him, I was advised that “He had dealt with tougher”, I simply said he had never faced the problem we are facing in the Federation and was discouraged by his response, in essence I believed viewed the problem in a simplistic manner where all that was needed was heavy handed policing which would “scare the deviants straight”.
We do not have a simple problem of unruly young men, it is a complex social issue that has given rise to the current status of violence in the Federation. Many years ago when I first spoke out about the issue of the gang culture in the Federation I remember saying “give me a platoon of defense force members and over a long weekend we can walk from Sandy Point to Zion, arrest every gang member and gang affiliate and throw them in Her Majesty’s Prison, and what have we done? We have delayed the problem 3 years, then they will be released as we will have gathered no evidence to convict, after three years in HMP with no real programming and living in extremely harsh conditions they will emerge angry and more violent. Not to mention that we have not addressed what gave rise to the problem to begin with so a new generation of disillusioned youth will be doing exactly what those before them did.”
This compounds our problem, the OG (original gangsters) come out of the prison and meet the new generation of gangster, conflict everywhere.
We may not want to hear this but we are making the situation worse. In the last few years I have seen piles of money spent on toys, the latest being a mobile command center fit for New York City, yet not a nickel more in wages for our officers in Uniform. How do you build a professional police force to meet the demands of the modern world when you pay wages of unskilled labour?
And look at the uniforms, it was once easy to identify a police officer they wore the grey and blue uniform of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, now a walk down Fort Street and officers are in black t-shirts, golf shirts and fatigues, they look like soldiers and security guards, not professional police officers.
We have stuffed Her Majesty’s Prison well beyond a safe population putting guards, inmates and administrative personnel at risk. Yet no real rehabilitation programs, no transition programs, we are creating a crisis.
We have mimicked failed foreign policies like the L.A. CRASH Units which further marginalized an already marginalized population.
When are we going to actually study the problem and implement programs based on the situation as it pertains to the Federation. Instead of just doing what they have done elsewhere, and in most cases failed. Why not look at our own nation and ask a couple simple questions. Instead of asking why we have so much crime, so many gangs,, would we better off asking why all our youth are not involved in gangs and crime? What is different in the lives of youth that resist the gang attraction?
This is not a simple issue of poverty, take the time to ascertain what is the attraction to the gang culture, then provide what youth seek from the gangs in a positive environment.
Look to other nations not for answers, as they seem to be short of answers themselves, but study and learn from their mistakes. Do we want to follow the United States with the largest incarceration rate in the western world it will bankrupt us, new prisons and capital punishment have not addressed the problem there, in fact the current gang culture was given to the world by the United States. Do we want to follow countries like Jamaica and Trinidad, Dons control large portions of their communities and militarized police force are viewed as the enemy by the residents of the ghettos.
There is no short or easy solution to this problem, however, continuing to stay the course and the matter can and likely will get worse.
Many years ago in the days of my first presentations I stated that the problem is not a government problem, it is not a police problem it is a community problem and the solution needs to come from the community. Of course the government and police are supposed to be part of our community and should be part of the solution.
With all due respect.
Dan MacMullin, B.A., Ll.B./J.D.
Member of Operation Future
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