The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) is Jamaica’s principal border management entity, and its core mission of facilitating trade, optimising revenue collection and delivering high quality customer service, underpins the necessity for the Agency to conform to international best practices that govern Customs administrations worldwide. As a core mandate, the Agency collects gazetted duties and taxes on behalf of the Government...

The Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF) is commemorating its 75th anniversary with the staging of several activities from November 2018 to November 2019. The year-long events will commence on Thursday, November 1, with a Reading of the Proclamation by Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen at King’s House. Following the event at King’s House, there will be...

The Ministry of National Security has expanded its partnership with Crime Stop to include a special reward scheme to improve investigations of murders of the country’s most vulnerable, especially children and the elderly. Portfolio Minister, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, said that this added incentive is intended to encourage more persons to come forward with useful information “to assist with the...

When then 13-year-old *Sophie was placed at the South Camp Juvenile Correctional and Remand Centre for Girls for committing aggravated assault, she cried every day for weeks. The 18 months she was ordered to spend at the juvenile centre seemed like an eternity of misery, but now she is grateful for the experience and the way it helped to turn...

Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Thursday, October 25, 2018, chaired the monthly sitting of the National Security Council. During the deliberations of the Council, concerns were raised by the Security Forces regarding the granting of parole to offenders whose release has been assessed as being contrary to the public interest, given the magnitude of their criminal antecedents. In response to...

The Ministry of National Security has reached an agreement with used-car dealer, O’Brien's International Car Sales and Rentals Limited, to recover money paid for the purchase of motor vehicles for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). Speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (October 23), Portfolio Minister, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, said the agreement was reached through mediation, which was...

Minister of National Security, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, says the island’s sustainable economic growth is heavily dependent on its safety and security. “To have sustainable economic growth, you have to have the foundation in safety, security and justice, because where there is economic activity, money is being spent, people are getting jobs; but if there is insecurity, it disrupts everything,”...

It was around 9 o’clock on a Tuesday morning and traffic was gridlocked at the intersection of West King’s House Road and Constant Spring Road. Seeing the congestion first-hand, police officers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) newly formed Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB) quickly sprang into action, to clear the snarl. “I hate seeing traffic jams”, declares...

The Senate on Friday (October 19) approved the Emergency Powers (Continuance) (No.4) Resolution 2018, which will extend the State of Public Emergency (SOE) in the parish of St. James until January 31, 2019. Seventeen members of the Senate voted in favour of the Motion. There was one abstention, while three members were absent. In her remarks, Leader of Government Business...