THE EDITOR: The recently reported illegal surveillance network of a major police station should be cause for serious concern.
Such a situation can only suggest that the undercover police activity is either non-existent or is woefully ineffective.
Combined with the documented low detection rate, the citizenry should be very concerned.
We are told that the State supports a police establishment of some 9,000 bodies. This number places us among countries with the highest ratio per 100,000 in population. Budgeted expenditure also reflects an equally high expenditure rate per 100,000 in population. We are therefore among the top publicly financing security countries, yet our criminal activities, including murders, continue to spiral and today is completely out of control.
Do these figures not suggest that there is urgency in the call for reviewing policing strategy? Several calls have already been made to examine the alternative approach of community policing as opposed to the current strategy of policing events.
Perhaps our investigative journalists can weigh in on this important issue.
SAMUEL B HOWARD
St Joseph
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