Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer
RUNAWAY BAY, St. Ann:
OSMOND BROMFIELD, commandant of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF), is proposing that Government launch a six-month assault on major crimes, beginning with a three-month amnesty period, followed by a three-month state of emergency.
In apparent reference to the 1976 state of emergency, he said, "Now is a different time from the '70s, and whether or not there was any error in the '70s, we can use that experience to guide the future."
THIRD WORLD BUDGET
Commandant Bromfield said Jamaica was using a Third World budget to fight a First World crime problem and that the only option remaining was to use the power of the state to address the problem.
He was speaking on Wednesday at the 21st annual Joint Central Conference of the Special Constabulary Force Association at the Runaway Bay HEART Hotel in Runaway Bay, St. Ann.
The ISCF commandant is also calling for an urgent review of the Firearms Act and the Gun Court law to give mandatory life sentence to anyone found with an illegal firearm. He said persons in possession of illegal firearms were threats to the society and should be slapped with stiff penalties.
Commandant Bromfield said he hoped National Security Minister Peter Phillips would find favour with his suggestion.
COUNTRY WILL WIN FIGHT
Minister Phillips, who later addressed the conference, said there was no doubt that if the country was to win the fight against crime, it would have to muster all the resolve possible to isolate determined, violent criminals.
He also admitted that the prevention and control of crime and violence was, undoubtedly, the most urgent mission Jamaica faced at this time. Minister Phillips said, however, that it would take more than simply addressing the needs of law enforcement, though important, to win the fight against crime.
"In a real sense, we will have to recover people's mind, people's consciousness and people's conscience as a whole, as to what represents appropriate behaviour in a harmonious civilised setting," he said.
