Diaspora forms task force to combat crime
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, last week met with members of the newly formed Jamaica Diaspora Crime Intervention and Prevention Task Force at the ministry’s headquarters in New Kingston.
Led by Dr Rupert Francis, Alternate Diaspora Advisory Board Member for the west and mid-west USA and retired captain in the Jamaica Defence Force, the task force seeks to leverage the Diaspora network of criminal justice practitioners to support the government, key agencies and other partners in tackling crime.
Johnson Smith told the group: “When we speak of harnessing the power of the Diaspora, it’s not just investment we refer to, it’s the human capital and talent that is available that is also so important. I assure you of the ministry’s commitment to support the work you will undertake.”
The ministry said in a news release Monday that the task force, which counts among its members, chief of the Homicide Division in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Captain Peter Whittingham; Senior Intelligence Analyst Herbert Nelson Jr, and former Chief of Police in Winnipeg, Canada Devon Clunis, is comprised of Diaspora members representing the USA, Canada and the Unied Kingdom, with backgrounds in law enforcement, military, law, religion, youth support and social services as well as other areas of expertise.
The team was on a fact finding and project planning mission between October 18 and 21, which will saw them also meeting with the ministers of national security and justice, as well as other law enforcement agencies.