Byron Buckley and Glenroy Sinclair, Gleaner Writers
Superintendent of Police Newton Amos (left), head of the St. Andrew South Division, stretches across the table to converse with Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, during yesterday's St. Andrew South Crime Prevention and Community Safety Forum held at the Church of the Open Bible, Washington Boulevard in St. Andrew. - CARLINGTON WILMOT/ FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
AS Jamaica's murder rate reached a historic high this week, Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. Omar Davies, yesterday called on the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) to provide scientific clues to address the crisis.
Dr. Davies' call, made yesterday during the opening of a PIOJ conference, comes against the background of 1,476 murders recorded to date this year. The current murder figure is five more than the previous record set at the end of last year, with just under 40 days remaining in 2005.
According to police records, the majority of the blood was spilled in the St. Andrew South police division, which has 31 volatile inner-city communities. At least 243 persons have been murdered in the division this year.
The brutal killings in St. Andrew South continued yesterday morning as two men were murdered by gunmen at their home on Glen Road, off Maxfield Avenue. The victims have been identified as Dane McMurray and Morris Walters.
"There is a scope for us to rigorously and analytically examine what are the causal factors (behind crime)," Dr. Davies said during the opening ceremony of the two-day confab on economic and social development planning being held at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.
FACTORS CAUSING CRIME
"Based on that rigorous analysis, rather than in a sort of pontificating manner, (we need to determine) what are the causal factors (related to crime) and how do we stop the problem and ensure it is reduced over time," he posited.
He argued that while unemployment was a contributory factor, it was not the sole factor behind crime. Hence, the need for the PIOJ to research and analyse the root causes of the phenomenon.
In addition to crime, the Finance and Planning Minister instructed the planning agency to also provide policy directives in the areas of education, greater integration of the small and medium sized enterprises into the economy, the eradication of poverty, and increased adherence to environmental regulations.
Superintendent Newton Amos, the commanding officer for the St. Andrew South police division, said yesterday that inner-city youth were to blame for the rampant criminality in his division, which includes tough communities such as Whitfield Town, Payne Land and Olympic Gardens.
He said that, of the 242 murders there in 2004, 90 per cent of the persons arrested were young men between the ages of 16 and 35.
Superintendent Amos was speaking yesterday during the St. Andrew South Crime Prevention and Community Safety Forum at the Church of the Open Bible in St. Andrew.
MURDERS
YEAR AMOUNT
2004 1,471
2005 (to date) 1,476
TOP TEN DIVISIONS
ST. ANDREW SOUTH 243
ST. CATHERINE NORTH 208
ST. JAMES 125
KINGSTON EAST 118
ST. CATHERINE SOUTH 117
KINGSTON WEST 111
ST. ANDREW CENTRAL 110
ST. ANDREW NORTH 86
CLARENDON 85
KINGSTON CENTRAL 59
Additional reporting by Gleaner Writer Howard Campbell.
