Inter-Ministerial Committee of Crime Prevention to be Set Up

National Security Minister, Hon. Peter Bunting, has announced plans for the establishment of an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Crime Prevention and Community Safety.

Speaking at a media briefing on his first 100 days in office, at the Ministry’s New Kingston offices on Wednesday (April 18), Mr. Bunting said the committee will coordinate the various community regeneration and employment creation programmes being developed to support the anti-gang strategy.

Noting that the administration is operating in a “resource-constrained environment,” Mr. Bunting explained that part of the committee’s role will be prioritising expenditure within their existing budgets, to identify resources that can be channelled into enhancing security and safety.   

“So, for example, if we have a volatile community in St. Catherine where relatively modest sums (have been) allocated to infrastructure (to) improve the policing environment and the safety and security of the citizens,…whether it is from the Ministry of Local Government (or) the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, the Ministry of Education, perhaps, may need to chip in,” he stated.

He noted that there are instances where money may not required, but instead “a focused effort, informed by the intelligence that they get from the police”.

Mr. Bunting advised that the Ministry would be meeting with all ministers and their respective agency and department heads to identify “what it is that they can do within their existing ministries, and within the existing budgetary constraints, to enhance the security environment”.

By Douglas McIntosh, JIS Reporter