$43 Billion To Be Spent On Implementation Of CSP In Five Years

More than $43 billion is expected to be spent in five years on the Ministry of National Security’s implementation of the Citizen Security Plan (CSP).

One hundred communities will benefit from the transformation initiatives being implemented under the CSP and coordinated by the recently established Citizen Security Secretariat (CSS).

Speaking at a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ on March 2, Executive Director of the CSS, Dianne McIntosh, said the CSP is a critical aspect of Plan Secure Jamaica, which is the Government’s policy framework that establishes and implements a strategic roadmap to counter the impact that crime has on communities.

“Plan Secure Jamaica’s framework and elements of it focus on border security, cybersecurity and citizen security. The CSP seeks to address a much more long-term transformation and development of our vulnerable community spaces by using a multisectoral approach, pulling all the significant agencies that deliver critical services and programmes at the community level that will facilitate transformation,” she explained.

The CSP was approved by the Government in May last year.

According to Ms. McIntosh, the CSP is a more targeted and performance-based approach than previous initiatives and focuses on performance management and targeted services in the vulnerable areas that have been identified in the over 100 communities.

“The three targeted prioritised outcome areas are crime and violence reduction, safer spaces and human and community development. The plan supports the interventions around these prioritised areas in the most vulnerable communities,” she noted.

Ms. McIntosh said that the CSS will support the interventions in these prioritised areas, with special focus on communities within the Zones of Special Operations.

“We have integrated the security and social investment components more for the first time than for the last 15 to 20 years. The security forces are working in the ZOSOs in a clear hold-and-build approach, so the build component of this three-tier paradigm speaks to directly addressing the work of the CSP,” she explained.

The Secretariat, which was established in October 2020, is housed in the Ministry of National Security and funded by the Government, the European Union (EU) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).