The Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness has suggested that the island needs a separate ministry to “treat crime and violence” in the country.
Holness hinted at the proposal of the new ministry during a sitting of Parliament on November 7, where he and other legislators condemned what he described as a “barbaric killing” of three Jamaicans, including two young boys, in the community of Salt Spring, St. James, on Monday.
A state of emergency has since been declared for the entire parish of St. James.
During a debate with other members of Parliament on the current measures in place to quell crime in the country, the Prime Minister said the security measures like curfews and states of emergency aren’t the only measures needed.
Holness said the crime problem is “over and above” the capacity of the Ministry of National Security, “which means the magnitude of the crimes is a threat to our national security.”
The Prime Minister said there is now a need for the government to “pursue the crime-fighting strategy on the human element.
“We cannot rely solely on the emergency measures or the police to deal with the crime problem. The human element has to be dealt with … these issues that have been raised regarding mental health and trauma, parenting, corporal punishment within the schools … all of these are elements that we have to treat within our society,” Holness said.
He noted the “great work” being done by the National Violence Prevention Commission, established in 2019 to identify gaps in the prevention and intervention services and to make recommendations with respect to violence prevention and intervention programs.
The commission is expected to submit a major report to the government by year end.
“The strategic thinking is that we need this national commission to look at what assets we have already deployed in treating violence, see where the gaps are, and then the government will have to dedicate a budget and probably create an entire ministry to coordinate all the state and civil activities to treat with this issue.”
Holness said the government’s biggest challenge is that the culture in Jamaica has evolved in such a way “that we embrace violence,” and any shift in legislation to oppose that will likely result in “cultural backlash.”
”But we have to break that,” he said.
