Minister for Crime Prevention, Jeremiah Norbert, says the efforts of law enforcement personnel are going unnoticed and underrepresented in the media.
This comes hot on the heels of Acting Police Commissioner, Verne Garde, announcing a rebranding of the traffic department to better reflect more stringent traffic law enforcement in the coming year.
Norbert says while reporting on violent crimes is sensational, focus should also be placed on investigators’ breakthroughs with criminal matters. “The media has its role in the whole crime fight initiative and the media have been doing their part…We know what excites people and the media always makes a concerted effort to capture the event as it happens. But I think what should happen is even after some of the incidents, and you publish stories, follow up when an arrest is made,” the Minister said.
Norbert, a former police officer, says a light is hardly shown on the more nitty-gritty developments when a suspect is in court. “I can tell you, only three weeks ago, I was at court and I was supposed to be giving evidence in a homicide matter that happened in 2014 for which I was the investigator. The individual pleaded guilty and I’m sure he’s going to be sentenced sometime in January or February. But 99% of the population will not know the successes. So we hear somebody’s arrested and usually when we hear arrested, people believe the police just bring you in and then they’re going to drop you after,” he added.
The Minister’s comments came as the public continues pressuring police investigators to get a tiger grip on both violent and nonviolent offences in the country.
