But a number of other CARICOM states, among them Barbados, Belize, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, also suffered the consequences of an upsurge in criminality.

It is a most challenging problem, not just for the tourist-dependent economies, but all Caribbean states. It requires concerted, collective regional responses with new techniques in policing and measures to counter the communications intelligence and sophisticated weapons of the criminal underworld.

With the escalation of criminal violence, a significant percentage of which is said to be linked to narco-trafficking and use of illegal weapons, the number of murders during last year ranged from seven to 11 in some Eastern Caribbean states, among them Barbados, to alarming levels in Guyana - 60; Trinidad and Tobago 171, and 1,045 in Jamaica.

Adding to the problems in combatting crime are shocking disclosures of crooked cops in police services reportedly linked with criminals of drug-trafficking networks and, as exposed just last week in Trinidad and Tobago, also in a kidnapping racket.

Kidnappings in Jamaica were to result in a number of deaths in 2002 linked to drug trafficking and gun-running crimes, while in Trinidad and Tobago, the reported 19 cases of armed abductions were primarily to meet monetary demands. This ranged

from TT$200,000 to $5 million (TT$6=US$1). Three of the victims were murdered without any ransom paid.

Until last year, kidnapping for ransom money was not a feature of serious crimes in Guyana. But the deaths of at least three known abducted victims among the estimated 60 people murdered were to add to the spread of shock and fear that gripped the Guyanese people.

The September 11, 2001 strikes by terrorists against the U.S.A. were to send not only this region, but small and big, poor and rich nations around the globe rushing to pay more attention and spending more money to cope with terrorism, especially at air and seaports.

However, except for the comparatively new phenomenon of systematic kidnappings for ransom in Trinidad and Tobago and a dimension of politically-motivated terrorism in some of the awesome criminal deeds in Guyana during 2002, the spate of murders, armed robberies and other criminal acts had nothing to do with the new, U.S.A-driven focus on crime and terrorism.

OAS anti-crime meeting
That focus would again be very much in evidence for this week's three-day meeting on national security concerns of small states, organised by the Hemispheric Committee on Security of the Organisation of American States for Kingstown, St. Vincent to be held from Wednesday, January 8.

It would be interesting to know of the extent to which the scheduled interventions by CARICOM participants at the OAS-sponsored event will reflect how drug trafficking, money laundering, gun-running and the criminal deportees from North America and Europe have combined to worsen the region's murder rate and criminal violence.

Or will representatives of the Regional Security System (RSS) and the CARICOM Task Force on Crime and Security be more inclined to focus on a terrorism-oriented ‘Kingstown Declaration’ on security concerns of small states that may even vary from the focus of a similar high-level meeting organised by the OAS in El Salvador in February 1998?

Strengthening the human resource capability and expanding the mobility, communications technologies and general fighting power of national security forces remain critical in the war against the criminals and should be balanced against new security infrastructure demands of a US-driven agenda for combatting international terrorism.

At the 23rd CARICOM Summit in Guyana in July last year when crime and security in the region was discussed, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Lester Bird, went public with his call for a Caribbean Rapid Response Anti-Crime Force (CRRCF), or some similar mechanism to beat back the criminal threat to security and ensure a more safe environment for the region's people.

When the Communiqué was released with an attachment of a ‘Statement’ on crime and security, as discussed by the heads of government, there was no mention of any consideration of Bird's proposal.

The leaders' approach to dealing with crime and security was alluded to in their commitment to intensify the work of the Task Force on Crime and Security whose recommendations to them had included a special emphasis on sharing of "intelligence information" by the region's security forces within the framework of an anti-crime intelligence system patterned after one originally developed for the Dominican Republic.

Help for special force
A question of relevance is whether Bird's suggestion of a rapid anti-crime force could be part of a new approach in fighting crime and ensuring national security, in collaboration with a restructured and expanded Regional Security System, and with such emergency assistance being available to any member state of the Community as the need arises.

Bird's position is that criminals were now engaging in what could appropriately be viewed as "urban guerrilla warfare" in some CARICOM states and, therefore, the Community's governments need to adjust strategies to counter this development by a new national/regional security thrust.

"I am personally persuaded", he said, "that the international community would be responsive to any practical proposals we offer for necessary financial and technical assistance to make a reality a mechanism such as a Caribbean Rapid Response Anti-Crime Force..."

Whether or not Bird revisits his idea of a special anti-crime regional force when CARICOM leaders meet in Port-of-Spain next month for their first Inter-Sessional Meeting for 2003, crime and security must, of necessity, be on the agenda.

Advancing the process of transforming CARICOM into a Single Market and Economy and its related new institution, the Caribbean Court of Justice, will be on the CARICOM agenda at other ministerial and heads of government meetings for the year.

Even if they do not discuss in any serious manner Prime Minister Patrick Manning's suggestion to have regional political integration on CARICOM's agenda, or have time to spend on the creation of a single Caribbean airline - both issues worthy of consideration - Community leaders meeting in Port-of-Spain next month can hardly ignore the necessity to treat with seriousness and a sense of urgency the crime and security problems of the region

They would have by then the recommendations from this week's OAS-organised meeting on security issues as they impact on small and developing states like those of the Caribbean.