By Robert Hart, Staff ReporterTHE OPPOSITION Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has blasted the Government and the Jamaica Constabulary Force following Monday's admission by Police Commissioner Francis Forbes that aspects of the eight-month-old crime plan had failed.
Derrick Smith, Opposition Spokesman on National Security, said the JLP was disappointed "over their failure to heed the warning signs."
These warning signs, he said yesterday, were highlighted by the Opposition party on three separate occasions since January.
When pressed for a response to the Police Commissioner's statements, made on Monday at the launch of the Kingston Central police/Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica Leadership and Enhancement Programme at the East Queen Street Baptist Church, the Security Ministry's communications adviser, Donovan Nelson, told The Gleaner: "No comment. In order to give an opinion we would have to analyse the data."
OUT THE WINDOW
On Monday, Commissioner Forbes told journalists that the crime initiative's aim of slashing homicides by at least 20 per cent "right now, is out the window."
In December 2002, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson announced the launch of the new anti-crime plan as a response to the disturbing rise in criminal activity across the island. The initiative included the implementation of curfews in trouble spots across the island, but especially in the Corporate Area.
According to Mr. Nelson, the Security Ministry's analysis of the crime plan has not yet been done and, with the Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, off the island until Thursday, will not likely be completed before next week.
SHOULD'VE REALISED EARLIER
Mr. Smith, however, has stated that he has been calling on both the Government and the Police Force to "go back to the drawing board" since March of this year.
"The crime data supplied by the police have been showing some worrying signs, particularly in the areas of murder, shootings and sexual offences," he said in a release.
Mr. Smith also chided the Security Minister and Police Commissioner for remaining silent on the issue and questioned why it took the Police High Command eight months to realise that the crime plan was not working.
Speaking to The Gleaner yesterday, Mr. Smith also noted the Government's failure to provide a $40 million grant to improve the mobility of the Police Force. This, he cited as one aspect of its "continued failure to provide the police with the necessary equipment to carry out its functions effectively."
It was reported in The Gleaner, yesterday, that as a result of the tardiness in the provision of the grant, a new fleet of motor vehicles promised since April has not materialised. One high-ranking police official said police officers are often unable to respond quickly when called to the scene of a crime.
