Dr. Phillips says Community Development Key to Crime Prevention

National Security Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips has said that the solution to crime and violence rested in residents coming together to develop and protect their communities.
Dr. Phillips, who was addressing a Crime Prevention forum on Tuesday (Nov. 22) at the Boulevard Baptist Church in Kingston, noted that focus should be placed on “what we can do to prevent crime, rather than on the kind of punishment for those who commit crime” and that the first step in crime prevention was “to develop a sense of community”.
He pointed out that all citizens have an interest in community development, as they share the same common facilities and have significant interest in the safety and education of their children and they benefit equally from social peace and economic development.
He noted also, that through community organizations such as youth clubs and citizens associations, young people get the opportunity to interact with each other better by either working or playing together on a regular basis.
Tuning to education, Minister Phillips noted that this was the most important indicator of a developing community especially as it related to the level of school enrolment and attendance. “If we do not take advantage of the opportunities for education and training, our communities will never have a high percentage of employed citizens. and those without certification will not be able to earn good salaries or high wages,” he stressed.
Therefore, he continued, “there must be a premium on keeping our educational institutions open in all our communities.without it we will have a perpetuation of poverty in these communities”.
In order to achieve community development, Minister Phillips asserted, value must be placed on life, which he noted, was probably the most important factor in any community development programme. “Too often, we resort to violence in our communities to settle the most trivial dispute.three out of ten violent crimes are committed by persons, who know each other and are sometimes family,” the Minister said. Hence, the challenge is now to find ways of restoring “respect for the value of life”, he stressed.
In order to reclaim communities from the scourge of violence, the National Security Minister explained that a reward system has been put in place to compensate communities “who make an effort to maintain peace”. To this end a Community Security Initiative has been established.
The communities involved in the programme will be assessed based on: availability of weapons for violence; presence of mechanisms for resolving violence; community governance; educational facilities and results; relations with the police; and development programmes, which will offer employment, personal development and leadership training.
Ultimately, communities that are highly ranked will have a greater claim on the resources under the Community Security Initiative, Dr. Phillips said. The Security Minister is of the opinion, that for the country to maintain social peace, the economy would have to grow, and communities would have to share in this growth. The effort, he said, would require more than law enforcement officials but parents, teachers and all law-abiding citizens, who have an interest in ensuring that Jamaica became a better place.
Other speakers at the forum were Assistant Commissioner of Police, Gilbert Kameka; Commanding Officer for St. Andrew South, Superintendent Newton Amos; and Gary Eubanks, Community Safety Officer for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).