Prime Minister P J Patterson last night, in a national broadcast, announced plans for a more co-ordinated attack on crime, amidst assurances to families and communities cut-off by flood waters that help was on the way.

Part of the plan will include the hiring of retired detectives to help boost the constabulary’s investigative capacity.

Just hours before, Patterson’s national secuity minister Dr Peter Phillips outlined the same plan in more detail to a select audience in Kingston, saying targeted areas would be the so-called hot spots of crime. Phillips also named a new head of intelligence.

Patterson’s broadcast began with the rains and assurances that roads were to be reopened to cut-off communities, but the more significant portion of his address was reserved for crime, with the prime minister condemning recent attacks on children and women as a descent into “unforgivable levels of evil”.

“As a parent and grandparent myself, I fully empathise with your feelings of rage and sorrow,” Patterson said, speaking directly to the families of victims.

“We are now better geared and ready to take action in the urban centres where extortion and the fight over turf have caused an escalation of violent crime,” said the PM, adding that Phillips’ plan was for immediate implementation, and would focus on “increased and more effective police action in targeted areas”.

Phillips, who had accompanied visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to a function at Mona, said his immediate programme included the recruitment of retired detectives who would be contracted to boost the force’s investigative arm, and a new role for Charles Scarlett as DCP Intelligence.

Scarlett’s job now is to “co-ordinate the collection of actionable intelligence” and complete a reform of the constabulary’s intelligence sections, said Phillips, addressing participants in the Caribbean Security Sector Senior Command Course, conducted in association with University of the West Indies at its Mona campus.

The course for senior members of the security forces of Caricom countries was sponsored under the UK/Caricom Co-operation Agreement.

Straw, a former British Home Secretary, was guest speaker at the function.

Straw pointed out that the two-way trade between the United Kingdom and the Caribbean meant that they both shared problems, including the illegal trafficking of drugs – enunciating the problem with figures.

He said that some 20 tonnes of cocaine each year ended up in the UK through Jamaica, about a quarter of all the cocaine transiting the island.

He added that there are some 1,400 Jamaicans in British prisons – more than any other group of foreign nationals.

However, he said that the effect of crime appeared even more devastating for Jamaica.

“Some estimate that the unregulated, untapped drug economy makes up about 40 per cent of Jamaica’s GDP,” the British minister said.

Phillips meantime pointed to hopeful signs, saying there were currently three factors operating simultaneously that were likley to bring successes in the fight against crime:

. the increasing capacity of the law enforcement agencies, along with the clear commitment of the leadership, to wage war against criminals;

. the expanding programme of co-operation with international partners facilitating the recruitment of trained and experienced professionals; and

. increasing support of the public as manifested in all forms of co-operation, including telephone calls to Operation Kingfish.

Phillips’ new crime plan will also have a second component, described by Patterson as community programmes to provide employment, particularly for young people.

“These will be funded through Lift Up Jamaica, to commence next month, and the Community Security Initiative (CSI),” Patterson said last night.

The CSI, a $200-m plan announced six months ago by Phillips, includes counselling and conflict resolution in selected communities.

The first three projects under the CSI, said Phillips, will begin on Barnes Avenue in South St Andrew; Dunkirk, East Kingston; and March Pen, St Catherine.