Bunting scolds committee for insufficient crime analysis
Peter Bunting yesterday scolded the Crime Monitoring Oversight Committee (CMOC), saying that it was not doing enough independent analysis of crime to determine what critical strategies are to be prioritised and monitored.
At the same time, Bunting hinted that the Opposition’s participation in the independent oversight body to monitor and report on the programmes agreed under the new national consensus on crime could not be assured if its broader role and principles begin to be compromised.
“It is not sufficient for the Ministry of National Security and the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) to present their existing plans and programmes to be monitored, as a sort of administrative exercise by CMOC,” Bunting, an Opposition senator, said during CMOC’S first press briefing for 2021, held via Zoom, to provide an update on the state of crime in Jamaica.
“After all, if they already had the answers, there would have been no need for CMOC. CMOC must do its analysis independently to determine which indicators are most appropriate to determine the progress and ultimate achievement of an objective and what will be a realistic time frame to achieve these objectives. Consensus requires honesty and transparency in all matters pertaining to the fight against crime,” he said.
“The Opposition,” he added, “reaffirms its commitment to the principles of the consensus. However, I should warn that our participation here cannot compromise the broader role of the Opposition, as outlined by the Right Excellent Norman Washington Manley, when he said, ‘The role of the Opposition is to challenge every abuse of power, every breach of human rights, every waste of public funds, every attempt to enlarge bureaucratic procedures and to remove them from public or parliamentary observation, criticism and control’.”
He said the Inter-american Development Bank has recognised that an inefficient system of data collection and dissemination of information on crime and criminal justice is a prerequisite for crime analysis and prevention, and therefore urged that if the intentions to fight crime are sincere, proper systems for the collection of data must be put in place and information made readily available to policymakers, researchers, educators, and the wider community.
“The Opposition will work with the Government to achieve its legislative agenda, so long as it is constitutional and in the public interest,” Bunting stressed.
Chairman Lloyd Distant told the press conference that the announcement of April 1, 2021 as the date of notice “effectively ensuring the independence of the Major Organised Crime and Anticorruption Agency (MOCA) was something to be celebrated”.
He also said the strengthening of the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau within the JCF was an achievement worthy of notice.
However, he expressed concern that the recruitment of adequate personnel into the JCF had missed the December 2020 deadline.