Producer Dane Ray calls for greater focus on gender-based violence
Published:Wednesday | March 31, 2021 | 12:14 AMShereita Grizzle/Staff Reporter
AWARD-WINNING producer Dane Ray said he is devastated by the murder of 20-year-old Khanice Jackson and wants the Government to do more to not only protect the country’s women and girls, but to leave no stone unturned if they are raped and killed. In an interview with The Gleaner, the producer responsible for Koffee’s mega-hit, Lockdown, says it is high time for law enforcers to give greater attention to sex crimes.
“We have sisters, mothers, nieces, aunts, and daughters, and every time a woman or young girl is taken from us by a rapist, predator, or paedophile, it touches us as musicians. We nuh support rape none tall, and so we always try to use our platforms to raise awareness around the killings and condemn the acts. But while we hope the songs and the messages will reach the masses, particularly the persons carrying out these acts, we also want to pressure the system to do more,” he said.
Dane Ray said that while it is hoped that the music denoucing these crimes will reach the desired parties, it is important to also agitate for change. He said: “At the end of the day, we want the right things to happen, and right now, the best thing me see the Government can do is dedicate more police to these kind of crimes. No stones must be left unturned when we a look fi dem man yah. We need a team of investigators who are specially trained to handle these situations.”
He is also calling for a special task force dedicated to sex crimes. “The same energy we give to finding scammers, smugglers, etc, a di same energy we must give to finding the perpetrators of rape. This is getting out of hand, and we need to control it. Just like how we have a special task force fi other things, sex crimes should be taken very serious. Nuh man nuffi get weh fi looking at a woman and taking weh anuh fi him,” he said.
TAKEN SERIOUSLY
In an interview with The Gleaner, head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) Stephanie Lindsay said that a special victims, dedicated to investigating sex crimes already exists in Jamaica. She pointed out that like most other countries worldwide, Jamaica takes sexual offences seriously and has always had special police dedicated to these crimes.
“We do have an organisation dedicated to solving sex crimes in Jamaica. That is what the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) is for. That is their mandate,” she highlighted. “It (CISOCA) used to be called the rape unit, and we said rape was just too general, and so we changed it to CISOCA, and so I am very surprised that people don’t know that there is a whole organisation dedicated to solving sex crimes of all kinds committed against everyone, not just children. I think that has been widely publicised.”
According to the UN Global Database on Violence Against Women, CISOCA was established back in 1989 as a response to the “need for police sensitivity to victims of sexual assault” as well as for “improved confidentiality in taking of reports from victims in order to allow for the speedy and effective investigation of sexual offences”. CISOCA was also established to “create an atmosphere that encourages victims to report incidents of sexual offences and assist in enhancing the rehabilitation of victims through counselling and therapy”. The website also indicates that law enforcers who work at the six units that have been established across Jamaica have received special training in gender-based violence.