Cracking down on crime

Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Monday | August 13, 2007

Jamaica does not have a major crime problem. This, some might say, ridiculous statement is actually true. Then again, it obviously is not. While our rates of burglary, fraud, or public mischief are not particularly alarming, where Jamaica continues, and embarrassingly so, to set world-record rates is in murder and violent crimes.

According to national crime statistics in 2006, the primary motives for murders were: gang-related at 32.5 per cent; domestic violence at only 4.5 per cent; and drug-related at two per cent. Forty-nine per cent of murders were attributed to other criminal acts, while 12.0 per cent were undetermined. In recognition of the urgency with which this matter needed to be addressed, both political parties were spurred into action to investigate the root cause of the problem.

At the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), we are much more convinced by the research that identifies organised crime as the chief driver in our murder rate.

The manifesto and policies that understand this and suggest strategies to deal specifically with this issue should prove an effective one.

The PNP Strategy

The PNP's manifesto does identify organised crime as a major problem. They propose that the way forward is premised on staying the course - a continuation of their policies that aim to:

Continue the dismantling of organised crime networks, freeing vulnerable communities from the rule of the 'don'.

Intensify the reform programme in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to provide better training with an emphasis on human rights, better equipment and technology, improved pay and working conditions, and an effective anti-corruption effort.

Address the social conditions within communities that are particularly violence-prone and from which many of our young people are recruited into the criminal underworld.

Transform attitudes to promote security awareness and ensure each citizen embraces the concept that safety and security is everybody's business.

Strengthen local and international multi-agency security efforts.

In more practical terms, the PNP is committed to a number of specific actions all intent on improving the police force. These include: adding 4,000 police officers to the force; upgrading the Police Academy to full university status; providing more specialist training modules for investigations, intelligence, and firearms; expan-ding the Graduate Entry Pro-gramme for the JCF and impl-ementing national work standards for the police force; launching a wholesale assault on corruption within the police force; completing construction of a newpublic morgue and equipping the forensic laboratory with the most up-to-date analytical capabilities.

Perhaps what is most significant here is that while the PNP says that tackling organised crime and dismantling the rule of the don is a priority, they have proposed no concrete measure to do this. Also, while the ruling party can be broadly trusted to deliver on their promises as they have generally done with their 2002 manifesto - if such promises only address the continued improvement and modernisation of the police force, these are unlikely - by themselves - to seriously impact the murder rate.

The JLP Strategy

At first glance, there are two matters that the JLP's manifesto is worryingly silent about. The deportee issue does not figure in their manifesto, whereas the PNP has at least declared a commitment to implement, in collaboration with deporting countries, a programme for the management, resocialising and monitoring of these individuals.

Of even more concern, however, is the fact that the JLP makes no specific mention of addressing the element of organised crime. Still, in a strange converse to the ruling party's manifesto, while the Labour Party does not make specific mention of this or the increasing institutionalisation of the don system and the need to dismantle it, it is their proposals and strategies that come closer to dealing with the problem head on.

Where the PNP continues to suggest that the scourge of crime and violence is best remedied by addressing social conditions, such as poverty and eroding family values in violence-prone areas, the JLP makes a more dramatic proposition. They argue for a complete transformation of political garrisons by amending Section 40(2)(g) of the Jamaican Constitution to include the provision that any person convicted from such enactment cannot hold office. The JLP then is willing to tackle the nexus of organised crime and politics in a way that the PNP has not yet been sufficiently proactive.

The JLP agrees with the PNP on a number ofthings. Both parties address the police force as a critical component. They both want to see the strengthening of the force to 12,000 members. They both want to build community support for law enforcement, to improve forensic capability and to upgrade the Police Academy. The JLP seems equally committed to tackling corruption in the police force, forming a national investigative agency and restructuring the Police Public Complaints Authority.

New measure

The JLP manifesto is more specific, however, in suggesting a number of new measures that will result in more available police resources. New measures in this regard include the expanding of the Mobile Reserve; establishing a cadre of police auxiliaries to undertake clerical, administrative and light-security duties at stations; establishing a traffic corps made up of civilians, and establishing a reserve drawn from civilians.

The JLP also promises to support crime-fighting efforts by building residential complexes at strategic locations for police personnel to ensure that they are within commutable distance of their station assignment.

Finally, a community-based approach to addressing crime in inner-city communities figures prominently in both manifestos.

The PNP has restated its commitment to community inter-vention programmes such as the Citizens Security and Justice Programme, the Community Security Initiative, the Safe Schools Programme and the Peace Management Initiative.

A new proposal for community safety officers - volunteers who would act as a bridge between the police and the local communities - has also been made.

This last measure seems to be a revision of the district constable position currently in place. The JLP manifesto identifies a similar initiative; the Police Cadet Corps - a group which would enlist young potential community leaders to strengthen an alliance between the police and the community. Similar efforts include re-energising the Neighbourhood Watch and Police Youth Club programmes.

Conclusion

Violent crime is indeed a major problem in Jamaica but, as with many other national problems, the political machinery has felt it is simply sufficient to implement a variety of programmes that, at least ostensibly, address the issue, rather than the specifics.

Tomorrow we will speak to the likely impact of these proposals on the matter of crime in Jamaica.