Jamaicans breathed a sigh of relief when the security forces dismantled the blockade of Tivoli Gardens and overran the urban criminal militias that had openly confronted the authority of the state.

After the horrendous rate of killings last year and in the first months of this year, the drop in major crimes that followed eased tensions and gave hope that the crime beast could yet be tamed. We saw in the early success of the security forces and their effective use of emergency powers, reason to believe that the state could at last be fully mobilised to wage and win an outright war against the criminals. This is why we agreed with the calls that came from far and wide for the state of emergency to be extended for as long as necessary.

Seeing how some of the most violent criminals had fled to rural districts and that their networks had spread out across the country, we were moved to support widening the area covered beyond the Corporate Area and St. Catherine. But even as we understood the unrelenting campaign the security forces would have to pursue, we made clear that there would have to be hot pursuit not just of the militias but also of all connected parties wherever they are located on the socio-economic ladder of our country. After the initial confrontation with the militias some troubling things have happened. Up to 5,000 persons were detained and held in appalling physical conditions with no evidence of the authorities doing anything to correct this. Over 4,000 of these persons have so far been released without charges and very few among the rest are expected to be charged. Thousands of poor, young men and women, were scraped up on suspicion, some of whom were abused and no doubt have returned to the streets more bitter than ever.

Those are the foot soldiers, so what of the people who control the criminal networks, who are the brainpower that direct the drug and gunrunning? No banker, financial adviser, custom broker, real estate agent, lawyer or transaction-facilitator has been inconvenienced or interrogated. Contacts in the security forces without which no criminal network can evade detection remain in place. Thus the state of emergency while temporarily disruptive has not been used to expose and neutralise those who control Jamaica’s crime machine.

Contrary to the conclusion of influential voices, the price paid by the society in the restriction of freedom and disruption of the lives particularly of the underclass cannot be justified if the initiative has not attacked the command and control of the criminal superstructure. Listening to the howls for the extention for the state of emergency, one gets the impression that rights of ordinary citizens are of no concern to those who by virtue of their class will never be touched.

Are to we to understand that provided the ruling class feels safe, then the security forces can be allowed free reign even if their actions are mis-directed and counter productive. We are in no doubt, that if the current initiative continues it would leave the crime kingpins untouched allowing them to be able to recruit and redeploy their apparatus.