Dr. Peter Phillips (centre), Minister of National Security, with security chiefs at a meeting. At left is Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas and at right, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

With some 52 persons murdered in the first 10 days of the new year, the Portia Simpson Miller-led government will be concentrating more of its resources in the parishes of St. James and Westmoreland, where 35 per cent of the victims have been slain.

Acting on the instruction of the Prime Minister, National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips met yesterday with the heads of the island's security forces to discuss crime-fighting strategies.

While there will be no new crime-fighting initiatives, the Government will be reviewing and strengthening a number of measures that have already been implemented.

At the top of the list are intelligence, community policing, social intervention programmes, recruitment and the upgrading of the training academy at Twickenham Park, St. Catherine.

Major concerns

Among the major concerns raised at yesterday's meeting was the sharp increase in the number of persons being killed in rural communities. At yesterday's meeting, the National Security Minister said joint military and police operations would be intensified to deal with the upsurge of crime in these areas.

Dr. Phillips is expected to brief Prime Minister Simpson Miller before the matter is discussed at Cabinet on Monday.

In less than a month, the Government will carry out its proposed review of the Jamaica Constabulary Force - almost a year after a pledge was made to conduct the assessment.

Dr. Phillips told The Gleaner on Tuesday that his ministry will settle the terms of reference for the strategic review by the end of January or early February.

He also disclosed that the security forces would, this year, be placing emphasis on the illegal gun trade as it did last year with the problem of narcotics.

"That is one of the things that we are going to intensify in the course of this year - to identify those who are the traders and distributors and bring them to book," he said.

Last year saw a 20 per cent decline in the island's murder rate. However, with the alarming jump in the number of killings this year, the security forces are severely challenged to maintain the downward trend.