PRACTICALLY EVERY DAY someone breaks the law. Sure, this can be taken for granted, but the odd thing is that quite a number of these people have no desire to become, for want of a better word, criminals.
The people under the microscope here are those who pay off corrupt police officers in order to avoid a lengthy and time-wasting stint in court for a relatively minor traffic offence. The people who 'buy' a driver's licence because they cannot be bothered, or do not have the time for, the rigmarole getting the same legally entails. This also holds for passports, birth certificates and the like.
The point is, the government of Jamaica needs to take a long, hard look at the processes involved in getting some of the necessary documents Jamaicans need to call on ever so often. If these processes were not so complicated and time-consuming, there would be much less Jamaicans who would be liable to take the bribery route.
There is a story in today's publication of two cars with the same licence plate number - no prizes for guessing how that happened. Did the owners of these cars want or expect this to happen? Of course not, but it may be a safe bet to say that they avoided the red tape involved in getting their plates, but are now paying the consequences.
THE STAR is not okaying this type of behaviour, but we do understand it. If such things are to be avoided, a lot of the red tape has to be cut, and cut now. This way, the government would stop losing quite a bit of revenue - just a thought.
