The Editor, Sir:

The Reverend Al Miller has ordered - make that ordained - a 'ceasefire' for the month of January. Since a ceasefire is a temporary truce, I have interpreted that to mean that all criminals and others with murderous intent are to postpone their activities until, say, February. We will then pray without ceasing.

My concern is not so much with what the Reverend Miller is recommending as with the continued refusal to deal with the crime problem in a practical way. Crime increases because we continue to dodge the real issues and as a result, the portfolio of national security continues to be the graveyard for many careers.

If our lawmakers are serious about their attempts to tackle crime, then it is obvious that they do not understand the problem. Some years ago, when they were pressed for answers, they came up with the 'drug' excuse for the high number of murders. Most of the people swallowed that despite the fact that statistics from their own department revealed that just one per cent of murders was attributed to a category called 'drug-related'.

Ganja business

Recently, they came up with something even more exotic - 'guns from Haiti' - and boats were being repaired to patrol our borders. Again, the people bought this hook, line and sinker because it was coming from 'official' sources. They would not know that these are just some old, rusty, unreliable weapons, leftovers from a conflict which took place a quarter of a century ago and given to the most backward fringe of our ganja business. The guns that are destroying our lives and our economy are purchased from gun dealers in the US and coming in through our ports! This begs the question, how much do we really know about this crime that we are fighting? What do we really know about our criminals?

Research is critical

Criminological research is critical! It should comprise quantitative as well as qualitative research methods examining - among other things - the politics of law and order, crime data, violent, white collar, professional and organised crime, crime prevention, policing, pre-trial processes, sentencing policies, probation and community sanctions, prisons, gender, mental disorder, as well as victims. This must be transformed from 'theoretical' to 'applied' research. We can then start to challenge the myths surrounding this problem - like 'inequality and poverty cause crime', when this has not yet been proven. Only after we have empirical evidence can we truthfully claim to have knowledge of the crime we are fighting. This will give us the power to fight the crime we are facing.

I would not pretend to tell the Reverend Al anything about God and my next statement should not be construed as suggesting that God is a 'wagonist'. I suspect, however, that one day after we start helping ourselves, we will notice that God has pitched in and is helping us.

I am, etc.,

GLENN TUCKER

Stony Hill

Kingston 9