IT IS THAT time of year again - the annual 'Spring Break' holiday during which thousands of mostly college students from the United States engulf Jamaica's shores, especially the resort towns of Negril, Westmoreland and Ocho Rios in St. Ann.
Rarely if ever does a year pass without incident, and as can be seen in today's edition of The Gleaner indicates, a young lady from the USA has accused a policeman of assaulting her after she rejected his advances, charges which are now being investigated by both the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB).
THE STAR hopes that these investigations will be quickly and transparently carried out and the appropriate action taken when they are concluded.
As we all know, Jamaica is heavily dependent on tourism for the foreign exchange dollar, and given the current state of Jamaica's ailing economy, the island can ill afford incidents such as this. Jamaica's tourism industry is still recovering, shakily, from the events of September 11, 2001 and should be handled with care, to put it mildly.
If the incident did take place as described the young lady alleges she was approached from behind, and when the advances were rejected she was pushed to the ground and kicked it may be in part due to a very popular misconception. Quite a few people believe that the 'Spring Breakers' behave with sexual abandon once they hit our shores. This is rarely the case and is certainly not grounds for sexual harrassment.
In other words, 'no' means 'no' and leave the tourists alone.
