Beyond some of the political
bluster shown at the public meeting held by the People’s Progressive Movement
Monday night was an honest call for unity in the community on one issue: the
fight against rising violent crime in the Cayman Islands.
On this issue, the PPM has our
complete support.
If ever there were a major threat
that faced the Cayman Islands that called for a unified, non-partisan effort to
combat, it is crime. This is because
crime has the ability to affect every man, woman and child living in these Islands,
regardless of their political affiliation, their nationality, their race, their
religion or their economic standing.
As PPM member Alden McLaughlin said
Monday night, crime, unless it is arrested, has the capability of destroying
everything the Cayman Islands has worked so long and so hard to achieve.
Political one-upmanship and laying blame has no business in the equation of a
fight against such a dangerous enemy.
As was also discussed Monday night,
it is no good to lay all of the responsibility for fighting crime at the feet
of the governor and police. Everybody must come together to join the fight.
Everyone should do their part.
In addition, strong consideration
should be given to Mr. McLaughlin’s Private Member’s Motion calling for the
formation of a National
Crime Prevention Strategy Group charged with the development of a National
Crime Prevention Strategy; an Office of National Security and the appointment
of a Director of National Security.
One
of the benefits of such a comprehensive crime-fighting plan would be to coordinate
crime prevention, investigative and enforcement work between the police, the
Immigration Department and the Customs Department, as well as their
international counterparts.
If
recent times have taught us anything, it is that the Cayman Islands must
develop a new way of dealing with the modern kind of crime that has now
descended upon our Islands.
We
urge politicians on both sides of the Legislative Assembly to embrace a unified
effort in the war against crime, and for every citizen to accept his or her own
responsibility in the battle.