State of emergency extended in St Catherine North - Gov't invites bipartisan support for crime plan
Published:Tuesday | March 27, 2018 | 12:00 AMBrian Walker/Staff Reporter
Some rights of residents living in communities throughout the St Catherine North Police Division will continue to be suspended for three months, after the 49 members of parliament present in Gordon House yesterday voted in favour of the resolution for the state of emergency (SOE) declared on March 18 to be extended until July 3.
For Leader of the Opposition Dr Peter Phillips, the SOE should be employed sparingly. "In circumstances like this, where it is a not response to natural disaster of some sort, it is really an indication of the failure of policy to deal with the situation of repeated criminal violence," said Dr Phillips.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness concurred with Phillips' position. He suggested, "I think that we can find a more clinical approach that would set out powers. We could call it enhanced powers or some name we can find for it that would allow us to rapidly deploy them, without having to go through the procedures that we have to now do."
Holness added that the Government would soon articulate its crime plan publicly, but he said that there is a major step to be taken. "The crime plan must include in it something to say that this Parliament agrees on a set of actions, that we are carving out national security as an area where there is bipartisan support for policy," explained the prime minister.