January 2017 | Business View Caribbean

12 13 N ational Security Minister, Robert Mon- tague, has announced a raft of mea- sures to combat crime and violence and to improve the effectiveness of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) for 2017. Speaking at the JCF’s annual devotional exer- cise at the Police Commissioner’s Office recent- ly, Montague said that among the measures will be the splitting of the St. James Police Division “to bring to bear more resources on the prob- lems in St James.” He further announced the arrival of two naval ships on January 21 from the Netherlands for the Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) Coast Guard, to patrol the seas in order to secure the nation’s borders. A surveillance plane will also arrive later this year, which will provide additional protection and security to Jamaica’s borders to prevent the trafficking of illegal guns and ammunition. Meanwhile, Montague noted that 40 rank- and-file members of the JCF will be travelling sea turtles and coastal and marine ecosystems and what needs to be done to adapt. At the evaluation workshop, the CSOs also engaged with invited partners from govern- ment, international agencies, and private sector donors for a highly interactive round of group presentations and “speed dating” to discuss po- tential future areas of collaboration. Responses from the invited partners included “smitten” and “very proud”, and before leaving they urged the participating CSOs to be proactive in initiating their “second dates” to discuss specific opportu- nities for collaboration on climate adaptation initiatives moving forward. opening lines National Security Minister Announces Measures to Combat Crime and Violence in Jamaica to Cuba for training with dogs that have been acquired. The Minister pointed out that 200 more vehicles will be added to the JCF fleet in order to enable every police station to respond appropriately to various occurrences. “We’re going to be expanding the closed-circuit televi- sion (CCTV) network. We have four towns with CCTV cameras and we’ll be expanding this into New Kingston,” the Minister said. “Private persons with CCTVwill also be able to send their footage to the police. We’re going to do facial recognition, geo-fencing and license-plate reading. We’re going to be investing heavily in the intelligence network to lead the operations of the Force,”Montague continued. Regarding legislation, he noted that several changes were coming to the Bail, Firearm, and Fingerprint Acts. “The Firearm Act is special to me. The message must be clearly sent that when you take up a gun, you are going to spend a long time behind bars,” he emphasized. Atten- tion is also to be given to praedial larceny, and motorcyclists’ helmets will be required to bear a registration number. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Novelette Grant, said the members of the JCF must value themselves and the service they give. She encouraged them to partner with citizens to rid the country of crime and violence. In his NewYear’s message to the nation, Prime Minister AndrewHolness said the government is prepared to use the full force of the law to address the crime problem, as it is the greatest threat to the country’s economic independence. He urged persons to report crimes, noting that “information is the best weapon against criminals.”