National

Security Minister Dr Horace Chang says the state of public emergency (SOE) in

St James will not be indefinite.

“The primary

purpose of the SOE is to reduce [crime and violence, particularly murders]. The

SOE is, however, not something you can maintain forever in a community and, in

fact, the shorter the time you have it, the better off you [the public] are,”

he said.

The Minister

was responding to concerns raised by entertainment industry stakeholders in the

parish regarding what they said was the SOE’s impact on their engagements,

during a meeting at Pier One in Montego Bay on Saturday, September 21.

Chang cited

the Suppression of Crime Act, extensive utilisation of which, he argued, “not

only became negative, it changed the habit of the law enforcement officers.”

“We don’t

want to do that at this point… we have come a long way,” he further contended.

The Minister

said the SOE has, nonetheless, proved effective in breaking the murder cycle

wherever it has been implemented, in addition to reducing violence while

engendering more effective policing.

Chang

indicated that this is being supported by other initiatives such as job

creation for young people which, he emphasized, remains a major focus of the

Government.