Stay up, Mr Commissioner

THE EDITOR: We are doing it again. The recent attack on the Commissioner of Police’s “one shot, one kill” approach is typical of the way people in TT treat with any attempt to correct the wrongs and raise the rights.

It is a pathetic pastime that needs serious prayers.

There is a learned inclination to pull down anything that appears to be good and anybody trying to do good.

I make no apology for this analysis of our situation and my concern with those who express the view that “one shot, one kill” is an undesirable position for the police to adopt. What is the alternative? What is the prescribed solution for a nation facing a crisis of crime?

While we should not condone unjustified killing by the police, we certainly cannot support the galloping murder rate. We will be like “mules and fools” if we do.

As the Bible says, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you” (Psalm 32:8,9).

It’s passing strange that when we try to address a problem in our society the naysayers and pontificators bring their old talk to the “gayelle” while bodies pile up, and mothers hold their bellies and bawl. Some of us question the resolution to the problem and seem to champion the status quo.

If it sounds good, bad talk it. If it looks clean, litter it. If the top cop is starting to get results, criticise him. Like the old calypsonian sang, it seems “we like it so.”

How else can we explain the logic of people joining with the criminals to attack the CoP. It’s a dastardly attempt to stay in the “comfort of the crime.” All this bad attitude is the cause of crime and violence in our midst.

And so we created a “criminal state” and a country littered with garbage and woes, and some are unashamedly trying to destroy attempts to correct our wrongs. Even while many among us cry out in pain, others shout out in disdain, attacking all that is right and good and true.

We seem to be unwilling or unable to address the monster in our midst, the same one that we have raised in our communities. Like the Bible story there is a need for a David to tackle the Goliath and reduce crime. But the brothers don’t want that. The commissioner is trying his “sling and thing” to bring down the crime but others are trying to hold him back and pull him down.

So we will pray for the police and all law-abiding citizens who are in shock at the state of our nation.

Many of our citizens feel helpless against the crime and criminal activity. Some have come to accept it as the norm. But there is a God above and He will raise up heroes in our time to tackle the scourge of crime and rescue our country. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

Marvel not that I say unto you, we need to be “born again” in our thinking and turn to God for the salvation of our nation.

We must fight crime on the beaches, we must fight crime on the hills, we must fight crime in the streets of every town and village and we must not surrender. We must continue the fight against the forces of evil.

For all of us who are fighting to bring down crime, I say stay up, Mr Commissioner. You are doing a good job. Don’t come down.

APOSTLE TERRENCE HONORE, San Fernando