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Prime Minister Bruce Golding has appealed to G8 countries for greater assist-ance to countries like Jamaica in the fight against organised crime.

"When we go into communities and dismantle the criminal organisations that are embedded there, we leave a huge space which, if not quickly filled by meaningful programmes that empower people, provide training and jobs, create opportunities and offer hope, will shortly thereafter be filled by a new, smarter generation of criminals," Golding said in Muskoka, Canada, at a special outreach session of the G8 Summit on Friday.

"The kind of social intervention that is needed requires resources that we don't have. We need your help, lots of help," Golding said.

He argued that this assistance must be broad-based and must recognise that rooting out crime is not just a law-enforcement exercise but must be seen as a major development issue.

Golding called attention to the penetrative and corrosive effects of crime in struggling developing countries with weak institutional capacity and a scarcity of resources. He outlined the measures being carried out by his administration in its renewed campaign to combat crime and declared that it was determined to use every tool in its toolbox in an all-out effort that must be sustained until the job is completed.

Matter of urgency

While acknowledging the assist-ance being provided by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, Golding said a more comprehensive strategy must be developed as a matter of urgency.

"This must include greater effort to disrupt the flow of drugs, with equal emphasis being placed on both the supply and demand side of the drug trade," the prime minister said.

He called for more effective measures to stem the flow of illegal guns, which were not only the symbol and tool of organised crime, but filtered into the hands of itinerant criminals.

The prime minister also called for more technical assistance in criminal investigation, intelligence management and law-enforcement techniques.

Golding welcomed the additional resources provided by G20 countries through the International Monetary Fund and other multi-lateral agencies, but pointed out that the conditions for accessing these funds required deflationary fiscal and monetary policies that left beneficiary countries with no room to effectively address the develop-ment dimension of the fight against crime.

Increased assistance

Golding urged the international community to help countries like Jamaica to find more creative ways to deal with these challenges even while undertaking the adjustments necessary to put their economies in good health.

Golding's appeal to the G8 came days after he announced that Jamaica was to get increased assistance from the US.

"We are expecting to arrive, very shortly, a significant level of resource support from the United States. It will include armoured carriers; it will include additional mobile equipment for the military and for the police, protective gear, and so on," Golding told Parliament on the eve of his departure to Canada.

"We are getting additional assistance from some of our other bilateral partners. We are developing a programme to access the recently boosted regional security initiative by the US which was expanded based on the announcement of Secretary of State Clinton in Barbados, which will provide some assistance for us."

Golding