Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterUNDER A Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government, criminals will be arrested within a month, tried within three months, and the case disposed of six months later.
It's what Mr. Golding called the '1-3-6 approach', an announcement he made Thursday night at a JLP fund-raising banquet at Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.
"When a crime is committed, the persons committing that crime must be found, arrested and charged within one month within a few hours if possible, a few days if necessary," Mr. Golding said. "Within three months, the trial of that person must commence and within six months, he must be either sentenced or acquitted."
The JLP leader unveiled an alternative crime plan his party would embrace if it formed the next government, and chided the Government for lacking the political will to fight crime. The Government last week announced a new crime plan to tackle crime.
Mr. Golding pointed to the lack of police vehicles, dilapidated police stations, and defective communication apparatus.
"We are currently spending over $4 billion to build a new transportation centre," he said. "We are now about to spend another $2 billion to build a new cricket stadium, yet the police force, which is our first line of defence against criminals, is starved of resources."
Noting that crime in Jamaica could be solved, the Opposition Leader proposed what he said was a range of initiatives to tackle crime.
"We will have to secure real improvement in the economy through job creation, investments and new economic opportunities," Mr. Golding stated.
There must be strategic social interventions to reclaim lost communities, and there must be effective policing, he added.
JLP'S CRIME PLAN
The JLP leader's crime plan also included a reduction of the size of the Jamaica Defence Force and the subsequent enlistment of as many as 2,500 in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
Meanwhile, to support his idea, Mr. Golding said 20 per cent of the complement in modern police establishments comprise trained crime investigators, compared to what he claimed was seven and a half per cent in the JCF.
"Criminals are risk managers," the JLP leader stated. "They assess the risk of committing crimes. If the odds are that they will never be caught or punished, they will commit the crime without worrying about the consequences."
