THE EDITOR: We have two major players batting to save the nation and mitigate the criminality that is pervading our county, one is National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and the other is Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob.

Neither of the two men seem to know anything substantial about crimes as reported. Hinds downplayed the shootout in Laventille that affected students and teachers at the Rose Hill RC Primary School, saying the incident was about 200 metres and that the children were never in danger, which is correct.

But the teachers who had the children duck under their desks and instructed them to keep quiet are yet to be commended for their work.

Hinds could have thanked the teachers, shown more empathy and met with parents to establish a plan should the students and teachers ever be in danger from gunmen, this not being the first time shooting has happened nearby. All that he contributed to the incident was rhetoric. He is truly failing us as the National Security Minister, in my opinion.

Jacob on the other hand was on a roll to stop the flow of guns entering the country legally or illegally. He was going to get more aggressive in the search and seizure of guns from criminals but it appears whenever he confiscates a few, a larger load enters the country.

He said once again he was going to subject almost all custom officers to lie detector tests but that appears to be just talk.

Jacob's plan is a recruiting drive to enlist more than 200 police officers to boost numbers, as if numbers are the ideal solution for crime reduction.

These two clueless individuals should do the decent thing and resign so that people who are more capable in fighting crime may enter the fray. Hinds and Jacob are both actually dancing top in mud without any sensible plans or new ideas to abate the criminality in the country.

JAY RAKHAR

New York