NEW YORK, USA — Alarmed by the murder statistics for 2019, Jamaicans overseas are again offering to partner with the Jamaican Government, civil society and the island’s security forces to battle the criminals in their homeland.

“We are ready to help. We have the expertise in several areas and we also have access to resources, including financial and equipment,” declared Dr Rupert Francis, head of the Jamaica Diaspora Crime Intervention and Prevention Task Force.

He noted that the diaspora had been extending its offer to help with crime-fighting in Jamaica for the past five years, but is yet to see the type of collaboration he believes is needed on the issue.

With murders on the island passing the 1,300 mark last year, Francis, a former captain in the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), said the situation was again forcing many Jamaicans abroad to either rethink or put off plans to return home to invest and help build the country.

He said that with the resources currently available, the Diaspora, through the task force on crime intervention and prevention, could immediately provide expertise on community policing, training, law enforcement and modern crime-detection techniques.

Francis said that expertise was also available in planning, sociology, communication and logistics. He listed three prominent Jamaicans – Devon Clunis, retired chief of police for the city of Winnipeg, Canada; retired Captain Peter Whittingham, formerly of the Homicide Division of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD); and Andrew Smalling, former chief of police for the city of Lauderhill, Florida – with vast experience in police and security measures “who are on board to provide their services”.

Smalling, who migrated at eight from inner-city Jones Town, Kingston, is currently running to become the first Jamaican to become sheriff of Broward County.

Whittingham also hails from a deprived inner-city community in Canterbury, St James.

In a media release, Francis said that as of January 1 the task force would be launching an initiative aimed at expanding expertise in other areas, as it presents the Government with a multifaceted approach to its crimefighting techniques.

Francis also went to bat for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, arguing that “they are underpaid, undermanned, under siege and demoralised”.