The murder rate is up over the same period last year, according to statistics from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, as indicated in the Gleaner.

according to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) weekly crime review, up to Sunday, at least 141 murders had been reported over the past six weeks of 2015. Eighty of these killings are thought to be gang related; 36 as criminal, but not gang related; and 13 were domestic killings. There was one mob killing, while the motives for another 11 have not yet been established. The report indicated that most of the murders have taken place in the St Catherine North (19) and Clarendon (13) divisions.

National Security Minister Peter Bunting visited a particularly hard-hit community over the weekend and delivered a message of support and a call for divine intervention. This is according to the reporter’s account, however. I would have like to hear the entire speech, but alas, the government does not release such speeches, nor does it really release its comprehensive crime strategy.

Crime continues to be fueled mostly by gang activity, so what is the strategy to combat this ever-present reality?

Here is the lede of the story:

It is not that they have run out of ammunition or crime-fighting strategies, but the police have embarked on a path of divine intervention to manage crime in the east Kingston community of McIntyre Villa, where National Security Minister Peter Bunting used several Bible texts to explain to residents the demonic powers that he said the nation was up against.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,” Bunting told the residents of ‘Dunkirk’ Saturday night during a Valentine’s Day gospel concert hosted by the police. The concert was a gesture to enhance peace in a community that was torn apart by violence last year when two persons, 17-month-old Threjan Harvey and an adult, Demar McKenzie, were murdered on Valentine’s Day.

This post is more a criticism of the rhetoric rather than sticking to the facts by the reporter in this story. It leaves the reader with more questions than answers and contributes to the confusion surrounding crime and police response in this country. What else did the Minister say? Why was he there? Why did he invoke these particular citations? Would the police agree that they have “embarked on a path of divine intervention”? Did the Minister also outline crime strategies (which the reporter left out) or did he simply stick with the Biblical message? (Of course, politicians tailor their message to the audience…or was the reporter trying to slant the story a particular way?)

Is this article meant to invoke such a skeptical tone or is it a reflection of the genuine religious devotion in this country? I don’t know…There’s so much we don’t know. Why is the murder rate up?

On the same day, the Gleaner also published a story  (Headline: Major crimes down in St. Thomas except murder) that begs confusion: apparently major crimes are down in the parish of St. Thomas, but the murder rate is up. How are we to take this? Is it good news or bad? Why?

So many questions, fueled by both consistently incomplete reporting and a lack of information from the authorities, which of course wedges all the parties further and further apart.