I write to congratulate Owen Ellington on his temporary and, apparently, soon permanent appointment as police commissioner.

One notable fact is that at age 47 he has the youthful energy and stamina to lead from the front, providing the necessary impetus in the fight against crime. I am heartened, too, by his use of the word "rationalisation", stating this as a method for the utilisation and deployment of men and equipment.

Another area of rationalisation that I hope he will use is in the realignment of the security forces in the fight against crime, by not wasting the time of the police in victimless crimes.

Rewarding deployment

The time it takes a trained policeman to search, arrest, write up, collect a statement, place the matter before his superior, take the matter to the clerk of the courts, write up the court case, come back early to court the next day, stand for hours until the case is called up and provide detailed evidence in the court for the defendant to be charged $100 for possession of a single spliff is a waste of police time. It is almost criminal in its taking away a valuable officer, in the pursuit of triviality, when he could be more rewardingly deployed.

I hope he will rationalise his men against the enforcement of those laws which separate the police from those whom they serve and protect. For, with the murder rate at a record high, how can one justify the continued prosecution of those who carry a pocketknife for their personal protection?

I hope he will also rationalise against the wanton persecution of people who dare to argue with unjust policemen, so that the charge of obstructing the police really means that and is not a matter of police 'corruption'. I hope he will not listen to those who proclaim that good policing requires punishment for the most minute of offences. Indeed, it is the ability of a constable to forgive minor infractions that may endear him to a later intelligence source. Not every transgression needs result in an arrest. Do well, my friend.

I am, etc.,

DR J.V.FORD

jephthahford@hotmail.com