Tripling of National Security Budget Yielding Positive Results
By: , May 19, 2025
Photo: Yhomo Hutchinson
Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness (left), listens to Chief Technology Officer, Guardsman Cyber Intelligence, Omar Edwards (third left), during a recent tour of Guardsman Cyber Intelligence Security Operations Centre (SOC) at 14-16 Balmoral Avenue in Kingston. They are joined by Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Hon. Marlene Malahoo Forte (second left); Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Hon. Alando Terrelonge (right), employees at Guardsman Group of Companies and other guests. The facility was officially opened recently.The Full Story
Over the last decade, the Government has tripled the national security budget to equip law-enforcement personnel with the tools, training and resources needed to apprehend criminals, improve public order, and build safer communities.
Addressing the recent opening of Guardsman Cyber Intelligence Security Operations Centre (SOC), 14-16 Balmoral Avenue, in Kingston, Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, said that tripling of the budget is not just for cars, better police stations, uniforms and better gear.
“We have also invested heavily in better communication, better intelligence gathering, better investigative capabilities, better forensic capabilities, and better cyber capabilities,” Dr. Holness noted.
“We have stepped up our game, we know who you are, we know how to find you and we can reach out and touch you, so before you commit a crime, think very carefully that the environment that you used to operate in, it is not the same environment as before, what we have done is to change the risk reward function for crime,” he added.
The Prime Minister said based on the investments that have been made, the prospects of being caught continue to increase.
“Before, you could commit a crime and the probability is that you would not get caught. We have changed that; if you commit a crime today, the probability is that you will get caught. Very soon we will be in the high 90s, which means that if you commit a crime, you would have a 90 per cent or more probability of getting caught,” Dr. Holness noted.
He said Jamaicans should recognise that not all criminals come from marginalised or disadvantaged backgrounds, noting that some are highly educated university graduates who use their intelligence and skills to exploit systems.
“The general public tends to have a sense that the criminals that we are dealing with are all street-level operators, that the criminals that we are dealing with are youngsters who are dispossessed, marginalised, of which many of them are, but we are also dealing with criminals who are graduates from our universities, who have degrees, who are very intelligent, who are using the cyber world as cover to lead and influence organised criminal activities,” the Prime Minister said.