ALMOST three years to the day when the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party took office, former national security minister in the People’s National Party (PNP) administration Dr Peter Phillips has dismissed the Government’s pledge to put in place key bits of legislation to help fight crime as little more than “promises and announcements”.

“The legislative framework which ought to have been in place for the provision of evidence from remote locations by telecommunications link, which can go a far way (the Evidence Amendment Act) and the DNA register which can also go a far way; all we have had are announcements. Things were promised and have not been done,” Dr Phillips told the Sunday Observer last week.

Phillips, who is chairman of the Opposition PNP’s Communications Commission, made the comment while defending his party’s decision in July this year not to support an extension of the State of Emergency for the Corporate Area and St Catherine for another month.

He said while these are the measures that “will take time” the Government was taking too long to get out of the starting blocks. At the same time, he also questioned the whereabouts of the National Security Policy which was approved by Parliament and which included provisions for the upgrade of the intelligence-gathering services as well as the planned implementation of the recommendations from the 2007 Strategic Review of the Constabulary Force.

“It needs to be done. In fact, the new commissioner (Owen Ellington) has done a lot of things on the anti-corruption side and some other measures but… if you want to get a competent police force this is what you are going to have to do,” said Phillips.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in a statement to the House of Representatives in 2008 outlining the measures agreed to by the Government and the Opposition in bipartisan discussions, spoke of proposals to allow for the taking of non-invasive DNA samples, establishing a DNA database for access to and use of the samples and allowing persons to obtain copies of DNA profiles.

He said a DNA Register would be established simultaneously with the passage of the legislation for instances in which DNA will be needed for evidence.

“There is provision that the State will be required to retain DNA samples in cases that involve criminal conviction and there is a whole regime to govern the management of those samples,” Golding informed the House at the time. “It is not intended to maintain a data bank of every person whose sample is taken, only in relation to criminal matters.”

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) is material that contains the genetic orders for the growth and function of all life forms. The main role of DNA in a cell is for long-term storage of information. It is often compared to a blueprint, as it has the instructions to build other parts of the cell, such as proteins.

In terms of the provisions for witness testimony, Golding said the proposal was to amend the Evidence Act to provide for the giving of evidence and cross-examination of vulnerable witnesses from secure and remote locations; the use of videotaped witness statements; and video-linked testimony for accused persons from remand centres.

By December 2009, Golding reported that a draft bill to provide for the collection and use of DNA data for evidence purposes was completed by the Chief Parliamentary Counsel on November 16, 2009 and would shortly be submitted to Cabinet.

Now, almost a year later, neither of the two pieces of legislation has reached the Houses of Parliament. But they will, sooner or later, the Sunday Observer was told.

“The DNA Bill has been drafted, the draft was submitted to the Attorney General’s Department and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for comment, and comments came back with suggested amendments. The amendments are being done and an internal meeting is being held this week with policy persons in the national security ministry,” a highly placed justice ministry official told the Sunday Observer last week.

“The Bill is being fast-tracked because the PM has mandated it. It is highly likely that it will come to Parliament between now and December. Certainly, we will be delivering a draft to the national security ministry in two weeks,” the individual said further.

The source was, however, unwilling to comment on the amendments or the sticking points.

“All Bills are confidential; the Ministry of National Security is the client so they would be the ones to waive confidentiality,” the official said. “But we are working on it because National Security has been pressing us and we don’t fault them on that.”

In the meantime, however, the Evidence Amendment Act has some way to go before it sees the light of day.

“It is still being drafted. Comments are coming in from the departments of government and stakeholders. The next step is for the Bill to be finalised by the office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel and submitted to the national security ministry and any other stakeholders,” the Sunday Observer was told.

“Once settled and approved, the next step would be the legislation committee, which is a sub-committee of Cabinet, and if approved would go to Cabinet for approval, and if approved it goes to be tabled in Parliament,” the justice ministry official said.

As for the delay, the Sunday Observer was told “it is being worked on from all perspectives. The thing with laws is that sometimes they seem to go slowly but the reason is a lot of scrutiny has to take place amongst stakeholders. Sometimes because the drafters are few, priority has to take priority over priority”.

With respect to the recommendations from the 2007 Strategic Review of the Constabulary Force, the security ministry in an April 2009 to March 2010 progress report said strides have been made through the Strategic Review Implementation Team (SRIT) which is the mechanism within the Jamaica Constabulary Force to implement police reform as outlined in the 124 recommendations of the Strategic Review Panel.

The report said during the period under review, particular progress was made in the areas of training and development. Furthermore, it said consistent with the reform and modernisation thrust, its Training Branch has been redoubling efforts to improve its training programme in a bid to develop a professional service-oriented culture.

“As a consequence, Ethics, Human Rights, Use of Force are not only modules in every training programme but are also thematic in all law enforcement subject areas,” the report went on to say.

It said “leadership and management training have been delivered with a focus on developing capacity for improved service delivery and ethical policing as well as fruitful collaboration with the Independent Human Rights Council, Amnesty International and Jamaicans For Justice to deliver human rights training to new recruits”.

Earlier this month, SRIT graduated its first batch of 64 trainers, who are expected to lead the charge in improving the level of professionalism and accountability within the police force.