KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – The Jamaican Diaspora wants to see a holistic approach to crime-fighting on the island.

Head of the Jamaica Diaspora Crime Intervention and Prevention Task Force, (JDCIPTF) Dr Rupert Francis, said that the task force has pooled professionals from a broad spectrum to aid in the country’s fight against crime.

“We will bring to bear the criminal-justice operators or professionals, whether in psychology, sociology and any aspect of these professions that can help anyone to understand why crime exists, how it exists, reasons it exists and [how] we can stem it. Also, we would be introducing various aspects of law enforcement that have worked in the past from the community, social, political and economic levels,” he said.

The JDCIPTF was formed last year by members of the Jamaican community living in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Canada. Among its members are 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.

Members of the task force came to Jamaica last October on a fact-finding and project-planning mission. During the visit, they met with the ministers of National Security and Justice as well as some State agencies.

Out of that, an executive report was developed that outlined a number of goals to be achieved. These included the roll-out of an Intelligence Fusion Centre; the creation of a Safer Cities programme; and working with the Ministry of Justice to reduce the backlog of court cases.