MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY PETER BUNTING
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Friday July 17, 2015 – Minister of National Security Peter Bunting has announced new policy measures to address a 19 per cent increase in murders.
More than 600 people have been killed in Jamaica so far this year.
The three-pronged strategy to arrest the situation, which Bunting unveiled in the House of Representatives, will focus on strengthening the operational capability of the security forces; addressing the root causes of societal violence through social intervention strategies; and bringing important legislation to Parliament to support the investigation and prosecution of criminals.
Bunting said there would be a substantial improvement in the operational mobility of the security forces over the next few months.
“On the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) side, 60 motorbikes have already been purchased for delivery by the end of this month, and orders for 45 patrol cars, 27 pickups, four trucks and three buses are in the final stages of the procurement process. This will be in addition to 22 vehicles already acquired in April 2015,” he said.
The National Security Minister said the Government had also recently completed an upgrade of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (APFIS) and the telecommunications infrastructure of the JCF and work is underway to upgrade the 119 emergency call centre.
In terms of social intervention strategies, he said the ministry has increased its support of violence interruption activities. So far, 20 people have been trained by the Peace Management Initiative and Cure Violence in violence interruption methodologies and deployed in communities with the highest levels of violence, and another 30 have been recruited and will be trained this month.
As for the legislative measures, the Proceeds of Crime Act has been amended to take the profit out of crime and make it more difficult for the facilitators of money laundering. Additionally, the DNA Act, which provides a powerful investigative tool to help identify perpetrators and secure convictions, has been tabled in the Lower House.
Meantime, Bunting noted that what the country is experiencing is not a general surge in crime, but rather a spike in murders. “On a per capita basis, the parishes of St. James, Hanover and Westmoreland have the highest murder rates. St. James has a murder rate of two-and-a-half times higher than the rest of Jamaica,” he pointed out.
Bunting said those three parishes are where lottery-scamming activities are concentrated and a recent analysis by the National Intelligence Bureau found that at least one in three murders in those areas was identified as lottery scam-related and it is suspected that the figure may be higher.
He also noted that about half of the murders island wide are categorized as gang-related.
“We can conclude that participation in scamming and gang activities are what place the victims, their families, and friends/neighbours at greatest risk. This is corroborated by studies by the Violence Prevention Alliance, which suggest that only 15 per cent of violent incidents are committed by perpetrators unknown to the victim,” the minister said.
Adding that violent crime is “very concentrated” on victims who themselves are involved in scamming or other criminal activities, the Bunting said: “This should be a warning to parents, families and neighbours who turn a blind eye to that youngster who they know is scamming or otherwise mixed-up [in crime].”