Government to Roll out Policies to Address the Country’s Crime Rate

Jamaican Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, says his Government will be rolling out strategic policies to address the country’s out of control homicide rate.

Speaking at a brunch with Destination Experience at Devon House recently Holness said, “We are making the investments in national security assets to put us in a position to cut the flow of illegal weapons into the island, to limit the movement and activities of gangs, to be able to intercept criminals in the act and to create a real deterrent.”

He said the Government will also be putting in place a new national security architecture that will better integrate all the crime fighting resources which are not all in the Ministry of National Security.

“We have appointed a national security advisor whose job it is to bring together all the national security assets to fight crime. So I am confident that we will be able to bring the homicide rate down significantly,” he said.

According to Holness, in making Jamaica the centre of the Caribbean, the government must ensure that the rule of law is never challenged. Acknowledging that the present situation with crime, specifically murders, poses a challenge, he declared that the country will not be defeated, while noting that in general most crimes are trending down.

In addition, Holness stated that the government is committed to stamping out corruption.

“We are not satisfied with the recent ranking that we have and we are going to redouble our efforts to ensure that Jamaica improves its standing on the corruption perception index. This government is absolutely committed to that. We think it is an important part of attracting investors to our country and so we are going to redouble efforts,” he added.