National Security Council Signs Off On Social Intervention Operational Framework

Deputy Chairman, Social Intervention Committee, Zones of Special Operations (ZOSO), Omar Sweeney, has announced that the operational framework for the social intervention aspect of the Government’s new anti-crime initiative has been signed off with the National Security Council.

Speaking  at the Rotary Club of Kingston’s luncheon on  September 28 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, Mr. Sweeney said with the sign-off, the social-intervention programme “will begin to roll out effectively now”.

“So, the first will begin in Montego Bay tomorrow (September 30). There will be more items in the media and more information that is coming out around these activities,” the Deputy Chairman said.

In an interview with JIS News following his presentation regarding the social intervention aspect of ZOSO in Mount Salem, St. James, Mr. Sweeney pointed out that most of the [social intervention] initiatives now are around civil registration, including the delivery of birth certificates, tax registration numbers and other forms of identification as well as some public health services.

“We are now moving to start looking at clean-up activities in the community in a coordinated way. That is solid waste removal, bushing, clearing of some areas, street lighting for public safety, [and] the development of youth corps,” Mr. Sweeney said.

He pointed out that unattached young persons of the inner-city communities such as Mount Salem are the main targets of the social intervention aspect of ZOSO.

“The Social Intervention Committee is formed as a critical tool to seek the peace of the communities that we deem as Zones of Special Operations. It’s a coordinated government response to some of the issues in these communities, or what we need to attack. What is true is that much of the violence produced in these communities is done by unattached youth,” Mr. Sweeney said.

“If they are not attached to formal things or good things, you find that they will get attached to illegal activities, so the social-intervention strategy will have a strong focus on youth,” he noted.

Mr. Sweeney called on members of the Rotary Club to assist with the social-intervention aspect of ZOSO.

“Service clubs can provide an impact. Service clubs like Rotary possess tremendous professional skills, and the transfer of that knowledge will go a far way in what we would say is no cost. It costs nothing to transfer knowledge,” he said.

“We have to engage the youth and ensure that they are moving in the right direction,” Mr. Sweeney emphasised.