National Security Ministry Developing Citizen Security Portal

The Ministry of National Security (MNS) is developing a Citizen Security Portal, which is aimed at engaging Jamaicans at the community level.

The portal is part of the Citizen Security Plan (CSP), being coordinated by the newly established Citizen Security Secretariat (CSS), which will support and build on the existing work that is being undertaken to improve citizen security by a number of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and other stakeholder groups, with a view to achieving greater coherence, efficiency and efficacy.

Speaking at a JIS Think Tank on Tuesday (March 2), Executive Director of the CSS, Dianne McIntosh, said that the entity will be working with eGov Jamaica Limited to execute the CSP.

“We want issues that are of utmost importance at the community level to be the focus. Oftentimes when community issues get bypassed, there emerges space for dysfunctional capital [for example gangs] to take over the space and the community because the citizen is not as included in the process of development,” she explained.

She noted that the portal will allow for direct engagement by residents.

“If there is an issue going on in the community it can be shown on the portal. We are talking about issues such as safer spaces, crime and violence reduction, human and community development, and the portal would allow our citizens to engage in that,” she points out.

Data & Research Manager in the Ministry, Aubrey Stewart, who also spoke at the Think Tank, said that the portal will be used as a central platform for data sharing across government entities.

Mr. Stewart said that the Ministry expects to complete phase one by the end of this year.

“An element of the portal is getting the citizen’s feedback. We are currently designing the user requirements in partnership with eGov Jamaica as we speak. As soon as the requirements are ready we will be meeting with the various stakeholders to cement those requirements, then we will go to procurement to see how best we can get an entity to make the system. So, hopefully, by the end of the year, we will have done phase one,” he said.

A total of 100 communities will benefit from the transformation initiatives being implemented under the CSP and coordinated by the recently established CSS.

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