PM to launch commission on violence next year

PRIME MINISTER Andrew Holness says he will formally launch a commission to study violence in Jamaica early next year.

He said the commission will be mandated to make recommendations to the Government as to what can be done to ensure that Jamaica is a more caring and loving society.

Holness was speaking at a town-hall meeting held on November 26 at the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC.

The prime minister told the audience that the crime situation in Jamaica is one that the Government “takes very seriously”.

He pointed out that the administration has invested significantly in providing the security forces with the necessary resources to do their jobs.

“We have invested in marine patrol aircraft to have surveillance of our borders to help with the interdiction of drug traffickers and gun smugglers and contraband movement through our waters,” he said.

IMPROVING SECURITY

Holness noted that the Government is undertaking a number of other measures to improve security, including the full mobilisation of the security forces in communities where crimes are being committed.

“We are working very hard to address this problem, but it is not in a haphazard way. There is Plan Secure Jamaica, which is a multifaceted approach to making security a whole-ofgovernment endeavour, and, indeed, we are bringing on the entire Government to address the security issue, and it is working,” he added.