The crime problem has largely been reported from the side of murders in Jamaica, however it is clear that robberies are also an area in need of urgent remedies.
The lead story of the Tuesday Gleaner told the tale of how thieves robbed 39 members of an overseas missionary group, who were in Jamaica assisting the Salvation Army School for the Blind.
Despite the robbery, the team remained and finished their one week of service in the island. However they have decided not to follow through with a return visit to the island scheduled for later in the year. The team will not return until safer accommodations can be provided for them.
It is disheartening to think that people, who were trying to help some of our more disadvantaged citizens, are rewarded with being robbed rather than gifts of appreciation.
Poor image
This also does nothing to improve our island's poor image on the international scene, particularly among tourists. The government needs to recognise that we need to get our citizens to better represent our country and recognise that their actions can impact us negatively.
Crime in anyway is unacceptable, but while we recognise that we have a high murder rate and strategies are being employed to deal with them, there also needs to be resources set aside for tackling other problem areas.
If we do nothing to address the situation, then it will worsen and become too hard to deal with. So we implore the Government to also look at pumping resources into other areas of the crime fight other than murders before it becomes too much to handle.
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