The cover design, by illustrator Tony Wright, is very subtle. It depicts the lyrics of the album with a comparison of police with thieves. It was written in a time when Kingston, Jamaica was a politically manipulated war zone. A closer look reveals that both policemen and thieves are doing the same thing: pick pocketing.

In fact they were both 'scaring the nation' because they were the emissaries of the politicians who ran the system.

Junior Murvin (born Murvin Junior Smith, circa 1946 – 2 December 2013) was a Jamaican reggae musician. He began singing as a child, influenced particularly by Curtis Mayfield, and began performing in public after his family moved to Montego Bay.

He is best known for the single Police and Thieves, produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry in 1976. Though written in the context of Jamaica's turf wars and police violence, it became closely associated with the rioting at London's Notting Hill Carnival that year. Murvin and Perry co-wrote more songs together and completed an album for Island Records, Police and Thieves, released in 1977 and regarded as one of Perry's best productions. Murvin continued to record through the 1980s, but his singles had less success.

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