Bringing in the religious community in the crime fight

Fri, Jun 15th 2012, 11:47 AM

Dear Editor,

In announcing the launch of Urban Renewal 2.0 at police headquarters on Monday, June 4, 2012, Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade was quoted by reporter Dana Smith of The Tribune as saying, "Many of the murders that we recorded to date are a result of arguments. I am ashamed to tell you, arguments over women, females, where young men are feuding over females."
He further stated that "yes drugs is causing a lot of our problems, but a lot of our problems with our young people stem from these relationships that do not work right".
If the commissioner of police is correct about what he thinks is the cause of the record-breaking spike in our country's murder rate today, then it points to a spiritual problem which cannot be solved by police or any other law enforcement agency. This calls for more direct support of churches and para-church organizations that are actively running programs that affect the spiritual fabric of our nation. Police and other law enforcement agencies are employed to enforce the laws of the land, and are not expected to become social and religious counselors at the flip of a switch.
According to the report in The Tribune on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, the commissioner stated the following: "This is killing us and it's causing our people to die. We are going to have to make that intervention. We're going to have to get right up in their faces and say: 'You're a bigger man than that and I hear you're feuding over this girl - let it go.' And maybe take him for a drive and have a man talk." This sounds more like the job of a local pastor or social worker but not a police officer. I think we need to acknowledge the important role of the church in assisting with the solution of this national crisis. Yes, Urban Renewal 2.0 calls for the involvement of local pastors in its multipronged approach to crime prevention, but there is no talk of financial assistance to pastors who may be called upon to spend many long hours counseling young people. If the problem is considered to be a national crisis by the prime minister, then resources should be made available to the churches that are already in the fight against crime. Ultimately, we in the church believe that unless there is a change in the heart, by a personal relationship with Christ, no amount of policing can stop a criminal from committing a crime.
Now that the heat of the political campaign is over, it should be clear to all that the solution to crime is not found in the change of government policies. Crime should never be used as a political football, and as was stated by the new minister of national security, we should not expect to see any immediate change in the murder rate because of a change in government.
This has already been borne out by the recent record-breaking number of murders committed in a single month, since May 7, 2012. In this regard, it would be safe to say that apart from murders stemming from relationships, mentioned by Greenslade, murders committed since the change in administration have been associated with gang warfare and persons waiting to testify in other murder cases, and committed by individuals out on bail.

- Pastor Edmund Dorsett

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