Anti-gang, DNA bills days away from Parliament
Published:Wednesday | August 17, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter
TWO FAR-REACHING pieces of legislation aimed at providing more effective tools to Jamaican law enforcement in the fight against crime - the anti-gang and DNA Evidence bills - are expected to be tabled in Parliament when the House of Representatives reconvenes later this month.
National Security Minister Dwight Nelson told The Gleaner yesterday that the two critical pieces of proposed law were currently being examined by the Legislative Committee of Cabinet.
He said the committee was combing through the proposed statutes "clause by clause" before Cabinet gives the green light for them to be sent to Parliament.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds contended recently that the existing legal framework was designed to tackle individual crimes and was, therefore, inadequate to deal with the number and violent nature of criminal gangs operating in Jamaica.
Hinds, who addressed members of the Lions Club of Kingston two weeks ago, said the force was on a drive to bring down the country's murder rate in line with that of Costa Rica in seven years. He said the anti-gang legislation would serve as a critical tool in significantly reducing Jamaica's murder rate.
Costa Rica's murder rate is now estimated at a little more than seven per 100,000, which is among the lowest in central America.
Jamaica's murder rate now stands at close to 40 per 100,000, down from just over 60 per 100,000 last year.
The DNA Evidence bill, which has been under consideration from 2008, provides for the taking of DNA samples from persons arrested in relation to specified offences.
While the police await tougher laws to deal with gangs, Crime Stop has partnered with the force and the media to launch a new campaign aimed at obtaining information anonymously on criminal gangs.
The initiative, dubbed 'Rats', is seeking the support of Jamaicans from every stratum of society.
Building new level of cooperation
Manager of Crime Stop Prudence Gentles said the title 'Rats' was not without irony, as the campaign compares Jamaica's criminal gangs with "packs of rats, feeding on decay and corruption in germ-infested slums".
"This launch is part of that process where we seek to recreate a new level of cooperation between the community and police to assist in crime fighting," Nelson told The Gleaner yesterday.
He said his ministry has been working with communities islandwide to relaunch neighbourhood watches.
Nelson said more than 645 neighbourhood watches have been launched in the past year.
"It is one of the approaches that seek to put to bed this old-time culture about 'informer fi dead' where we seek to get information from the community about crime," he said.
Nelson argued that for every crime that was committed in a community, there was somebody who knew the person who did it, when it was done, and why.
Nelson said that every effort should be made to get more information from the community to enhance the police's investigation and preparation and presentation of evidence to the court.
He argued that there were a number of instances where the police held persons for wrongdoing, but with the lack of evidence they had to release them.