Dear Editor,
The recent seizure of two bullet-making machines and over 3,000 warheads at Kingston Wharf is extremely frightening and disconcerting. This find reinforces the widely held belief that the business of crime has major financial backers who will spare no effort or money to bankroll the guns, ammunition and other forms of weaponry that the criminal underworld desires.
While we must commend the efforts of the law enforcement officers, as well as Custom officials, we must and should ask ourselves what is the probability that more bullet-making machines are on the island and in the hands of criminals?
It is logical to assume that bullet-making machines could use the same channels that are used to get ammunition through our ports of entry. We all should be very much concerned at this latest development.
Bullet-making machines are not cheap! A "staple" bullet-making machine costs in the region of US$6,000. Clearly the average trigger man could not afford this cost. We need to re-double our efforts in tackling crime. Apart from unemployment, crime is Jamaica's number one social problem.
We all know someone who has been murdered, or may soon. On average, 1,000 Jamaicans are murdered annually. Since 2000, over 13,000 Jamaicans have been murdered. And with a clear-up rate at less than 50 per cent, this is untenable. Families are left to mourn the loss of their loved ones. Families are broken.
We continue to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. We need to ask for international help and invest heavily in more social intervention programmes, especially in many of our inner-city communities. We have too many idle young men on the street corners. Sadly crime has become an attractive option for many of them. We need to re-revisit our crime prevention plans and re-double our collective efforts in finding a lasting solution to this monster to provide the necessary confidence for us as Jamaicans and for investors who have other options. Jamaica is depending on us, failure is not an option.
Wayne Campbell
waykam@yahoo.com
www.wayaine.blogspot.com
Now it seems we're making bullets
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The recent seizure of two bullet-making machines and over 3,000 warheads at Kingston Wharf is extremely frightening and disconcerting. This find reinforces the widely held belief that the business of crime has major financial backers who will spare no effort or money to bankroll the guns, ammunition and other forms of weaponry that the criminal underworld desires.
While we must commend the efforts of the law enforcement officers, as well as Custom officials, we must and should ask ourselves what is the probability that more bullet-making machines are on the island and in the hands of criminals?
It is logical to assume that bullet-making machines could use the same channels that are used to get ammunition through our ports of entry. We all should be very much concerned at this latest development.
Bullet-making machines are not cheap! A "staple" bullet-making machine costs in the region of US$6,000. Clearly the average trigger man could not afford this cost. We need to re-double our efforts in tackling crime. Apart from unemployment, crime is Jamaica's number one social problem.
We all know someone who has been murdered, or may soon. On average, 1,000 Jamaicans are murdered annually. Since 2000, over 13,000 Jamaicans have been murdered. And with a clear-up rate at less than 50 per cent, this is untenable. Families are left to mourn the loss of their loved ones. Families are broken.
We continue to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. We need to ask for international help and invest heavily in more social intervention programmes, especially in many of our inner-city communities. We have too many idle young men on the street corners. Sadly crime has become an attractive option for many of them. We need to re-revisit our crime prevention plans and re-double our collective efforts in finding a lasting solution to this monster to provide the necessary confidence for us as Jamaicans and for investors who have other options. Jamaica is depending on us, failure is not an option.
Wayne Campbell
waykam@yahoo.com
www.wayaine.blogspot.com
Now it seems we're making bullets
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