Deosaran, the Director of the Center for Criminology and Criminal Justice,
at the University of the West Indies here, was among a 15-member group of
international experts that met in South Africa last November developing a
crime prevention manual and a safety tool-kit for practical use by police
officers, local government agencies, civil society activists, private sector
groups, and justice officials around the world.

He said a large amount of international evidence was produced at the
conference to show that reliance on a very centralised government and
policing systems has failed to stop the upsurge in serious crimes.

He argues that the Caribbean has not been using its local government system
effectively enough in mounting a comprehensive and deepened attack on their
crime problem.

"This lack of ground level strategies has kept criminals fairly loose and
community policing paralysed. Crime fighting must become much more
localised, with leadership and initiatives coming from more empowered local
government Mayors and councillors and assemblymen."

"While sensitive matters of national security and surveillance may be left
to a centralized policing system, the time has come for our local government
bodies to assume firmer and clear leadership roles if our towns, schools and
other social institutions are to be made safe, secure and comfortable," he
added.

Deosaran says the region must shift the emphasis more on medium and long
term planning rather than hustling from one failed short-term plan to
another.

"Even the system of punitive justice must be supplemented by more expanded
systems of restorative and preventive measures," he said.

The announcement of the new initiative by the Caribbean attorneys general
was not unexpected, coming as it did against the background of increased
criminal activities in the region that have resulted in a record number of
murders in Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, and expressions of
concerns from the smaller CARICOM states.

St. Lucia's Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony has warned that the region
cannot afford to ignore the fact that violent crime, drug trafficking and
terrorism were creating havoc throughout the world, even in countries and
communities that once existed in peace and tranquillity.

"In Saint Lucia the upsurge in violent crime is testimony to the fact that
we too are not removed from the whirlwind of negative change sweeping the
world," he added.

Guyana was plunged into a murder frenzy last year that forced President
Bharrat Jagdeo to acknowledge earlier this week that "more of our scarce
resources have to be diverted to law enforcement".

"The changed nature of crime has caused untold grief and suffering for many
of our people," he added.

But the Guyana government is being asked to dismiss Home Affairs Minister
Ronald Gajraj over allegations that he is connected to a so-called "Phantom
Squad" blamed for a number of deaths here.

Last year, Guyana recorded 193 deaths as compared to 142 in 2002.

Gajraj has dismissed the allegations, but that has not stopped the main
opposition People's National Congress/ Reform (PNC/R) from launching this
week a national signature campaign to force him out of office.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has also criticised "the casual,
not to say smug, resistance by the Government to the mounting evidence of
methodical murders by elements operating with impunity".

"The 'Phantom Force' phenomenon emerged towards the end of 2002 in
retaliation for the violence suffered largely by Indo-Guyanese citizens on
the East Coast which the police were unable to contain," the GHRA said in a
statement.

Last year, 971 Jamaicans were murdered, a seven per cent decline on the 2002
figure, and in Trinidad and Tobago, the murder rate reached a record high
229, up from 171, the previous year.

But even with a cumulative 15 per cent drop in murders over the past two
years, the rate of 37 per 100,000 population places Jamaica near the top of
the international league table for countries which are not at war - a fact o
ften quoted by domestic and international critics of Jamaica's social and
economic situation.

The New Year began on the same bloody note that characterised the previous
year in Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, with the murder rate
outstripping the number of days so far in 2004.

Jamaica's Police Commissioner Francis Forbes has admitted that the crime
plan introduced there in 2002 had hit several snags and there was need for a
re-think of the situation.

The new initiative, which followed a series of meetings involving Prime
Minister PJ Patterson and Dr. Phillips last year, mandates the security
forces to target six divisions, considered problem areas, for closer police
scrutiny.

Several new measures have also been launched as part of the new initiative.
These include the specialised training of personnel that will be provided
with the assistance of the British, Canadian and other friendly governments
as well as the revamping of the intelligence gathering apparatus.

Jamaica is also introducing modern technology to help track down criminals
and the Patterson administration is amending existing legislation covering
fingerprinting and the use of closed circuit television.

A proposal to introduce plea-bargaining is also part of the set of measures
to strengthen law enforcement.

President of the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ), Grantley Stephenson
believes that government also needs to create the appropriate economic
climate to attract investments and that the private sector must also "give
back to the communities" in order to lessen the incidence of crime in the
country.

In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, a new initiative entitled "Service
Delivery Action Plan 2004" was launched this week, just as the authorities
were outlining the functions of the new Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad
and Tobago ((SUATT).

National Security Minister Martin Joseph insisted that the new unit was not
an indictment against the police service, whose members have themselves
announced plans to present a new crime plan to the Patrick Manning
administration by month end.

"Because of the state of crime and criminal activity we are required to
respond in the immediate, the short-term and the long term. What we are
doing now is putting measures in place to stem crime and criminal activity,"
Joseph said.

The Manning administration has acknowledged receiving also proposals from
former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, credited with significantly reducing
the crime situation in that American city.

"We have been looking at the performance (of a similar Guiliani crime plan)
in Mexico. We have been gathering all the information," Joseph said.

The Guiliani-Mexico crime plan submitted to the Mexican authorities in
August 2003 has been widely criticised by several Latin American
publications and the New York-based Lawyers for Human Rights Committee for
being deficient in several areas.

The feasibility study for the Mexico plan cost an estimated US$4.3 million,
and the reported cost to implement the three year project is over US$60
million.

"Wherever assistance can be provided that will help in that regard, we are
going to take on board, but at the same time we have to do it in a very
constructive and organised way, because it will be the same population that
will be hard on us if at the end of the day we do not reduce crime and
criminal activity," Joseph said.

Caribbean governments have blamed returning nationals deported to the region
from the United States and the increased illegal drugs trade for the
increased criminal activities, even though Washington has not agreed to the
former.

Wickham has commended the regional effort to halt the flow of illegal drugs
through the Caribbean but expressed concern over the large amount of
financial and human resources regional governments were expending on
combating the illicit trade.

"Caribbean governments are expending considerable resources in the fight
against drugs which is something that has negative impact on the United
States more than it does on the Caribbean," he said.

He suggested that what was required was greater scrutiny of how the
resources are deployed as well as a serious examination of the issues which
cause crime in the Caribbean.

He further called for a re-examination of the legal system, saying at the
moment too much emphasis was being placed on jailing persons for "a spliff"
(marijuana joint).

Ironically, the prison system was identified as a contributing factor to the
rise in criminal activities in the region.

Law lecturer at the University of Denver College in the United States,
Professor Thomas Russell, described Trinidad and Tobago's prison as "a
circle of hell" during a seminar on restorative justice here last month.

Russell has also called on the authorities to consider a move away from the
conventional justice system, which sought to punish the offenders, to a
system geared to repairing the harm done.

"If these measures were implemented, there would be a reduction in the
levels of crime," Russell predicted.


© Jan 2004 Caribbean News Agency, Ltd.