KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith, met with members of the newly-formed Jamaica Diaspora Crime Intervention and Prevention Task Force at the ministry’s headquarters in New Kingston, St Andrew on Wednesday.

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.

 “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,” Minister Johnson Smith told the group,

The task force, which has 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 UK, with backgrounds in law enforcement, military, law, religion, youth support and social services as well as other areas of expertise.

 The team is currently on a fact finding and project planning mission from October 18-21, which will see them also meeting with the ministers of National Security and Justice, as well as other law enforcement agencies.