Omar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
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Franklyn: New unit must drive fear into criminals. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
DELANO FRANKLYN, Junior Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, last week called for the reintroduction of a specialised crime-fighting unit to counter the spiralling murder rate.
His comments followed last Tuesday's murder of four persons, including a 10-year-old girl, off Maxfield Avenue in St. Andrew.
Addressing a meeting of the Jamaica Customer Service Association on Thursday at the Knutsford Court Hotel in St. Andrew, Mr. Franklyn said the fear of crime in the country was too high. Noting that good customer service was being compromised by the current murder rate, the State Minister added that extreme measures were needed to confront present-day criminal realities.
"We need a unit of force in Jamaica that in its modus operandi, and while respecting the law, drives fear into those who are making the majority of us fearful," Mr. Franklyn suggested.
"However you want to comprise it, whoever you want to bring back, we must have a unit of persons who, when they (criminals) hear that unit is coming, they run and hide," he added.
RESUME HANGING
He also called for the resumption of hanging to help halt the number of murders, the total of which is more than 1,200 since January.
"It is on the law books of Jamaica, it is part of our laws," Mr. Franklyn said. "And I hope that both Government and Opposition can meet and come to a consensus on this matter so we can apply every law we have on the book to ensure we turn back this scourge which is currently taking over this land."
