TOP COPS IN NEW ANTI-CRIME PLAN
Crime high on agenda for CARICOM Summit
By Rickey Singh
Guyana Chronicle
July 4, 2004
POLICE Commissioners of the Caribbean Community may have moved with commendable foresight at their latest annual meeting in Trinidad and Tobago with their range of new initiatives that included counter-terrorism and sharing of intelligence information to combat expanding criminal networks and criminality.
No sooner were the region's top cops back at their desks in their respective capitals, however, from a week-long meeting of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP) that there were more chilling news from major CARICOM capitals, including Kingston, Port-of-Spain and Georgetown on the crime front.
While Jamaica was last week reporting that some Cabinet ministers and parliamentarians have been alerted by the Police to watch their backs, based on threats from the criminal underworld, Guyanese Police were focused on the consequences of the murder of a star witness involved in alleged killings by a phantom death squad.
Trinidad and Tobago, which has the unenviable profile as the so-called ‘kidnapping capital’ of CARICOM, and whose soon-to-retire Police Commissioner, Everald Snagg, was among the top cops at the ACCP meeting in Port-of-Spain, remains a sharply divided society over issues of Police reform and crime control.
Also participating in the week-long meetings and activities of the ACCP, of which Jamaica's Police Commissioner Francis Forbes remains chairman, were Guyana's new Police Commissioner Winston Felix and Commissioner Darwin Dottin of Barbados.
In once comparatively tranquil Barbados there are now regular media headlines about youth violence, gun-running and "war zones" in schools that mirror reports in some other CARICOM states where violence in and out of classrooms is now very much part of the crime phenomenon plaguing societies that have to cope with daily reports of armed robberies, and worse.
Crime and Security is a major agenda item for this week's 25th CARICOM Summit that gets underway this afternoon with a ceremonial opening at the Grenada Grand Beach Resort.
Briefings from the ACCP conference as well as the latest assessment of CARICOM's Regional Task Force on Crime are expected to feature in the caucus deliberations by the Community leaders involving the myriad forms of crime - murder, kidnappings, narco-trafficking and gun-running - plus new demands to ensure personal security of government and business people and protect the State from terrorism.
Wider Concerns
It is evident from their programme of activities and specific work agenda for the latest ACCP annual conference that the region's Police Commissioners have come to realise how very important it is to broaden the scope of operations outside normal or traditional areas of policing.
There were specific sessions on exchange of ideas with lead and specialist presenters, organised around themes such as:
Reforming the region's criminal justice system; issues and challenges in juvenile justice; regional safety and security initiatives; programmes and practices for positive youth development; phenomenon of violence and indiscipline in schools; international perspective on the abuse and exploitation of children; and promoting youth entrepreneurship.
In their closed working sessions, the Police Commissioners dealt with a wide range of issues of current national/regional interest, encompassing a security plan to ensure success of Cricket World Cup 2007.
Also, the pursuit of maritime counter-terrorism initiatives; drug enforcement administration; availability, use and illegal transport of firearms and small, light weapons; gender-based domestic violence; Interpol communications system and consideration of summary of global intelligence reports and "threat assessment" to the Caribbean.
Of particular significance is the development of a technology-driven regional information-sharing system to mitigate the effects of crime and criminality and new approaches in combating the phenomenon of kidnapping of hostages for ransom.
Resolutions
One of the resolutions approved by the ACCP meeting to be brought to the attention of governments urged CARICOM States to engage in bilateral and multilateral arrangements to facilitate law enforcement cooperation, support and sharing of expertise and experience in the fight against crime.
For their part, the Police Commissioners pledged their own individual commitment to make a reality of the spirit of collaboration to achieve the goals set to help the region in responding to the growing challenge in combating crime and crime and criminality.
It would be interesting to find out what emerges from this week's CARICOM Summit consideration of the crime and security agenda and the information to be shared to generate public confidence.
When they return to their respective offices after the summitry politics in St. George's, the CARICOM leaders may find as useful reference tool the recently released book by Ivelaw Griffith on ‘Caribbean Security in the Age of Terror - Challenge and Change’.
A publication of the Kingston-based Ian Randle Publishers, the book, which will have a ceremonial launch in London tomorrow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, is chock-full of empirical data and challenging analyses, including a "portrait of crime" in the Caribbean.
They include a skeptical assessment of "security, terrorism and international law": that includes a challenge to emerging broad definitions of "security" with talk about "narco-terrorism", implications of HIV/AIDS and socio-economic strategies.
The challenge of the "corruption-violence connection", the anti-terrorism capacity of Caribbean security forces and the region's law enforcement agencies would also be of much interest not only for the CARICOM political directorate but private sector decision-makers, civil society groups and, of course, the region's Police Commissioners and their management colleagues.