KINGSTON, Jamaica— People’s National Party (PNP) Shadow Minister of National Security Fitz Jackson is calling on Prime Minister Andrew Holness to explain to Jamaica why crime “evolved currently, over and above our established capacity to address it” under his watch.

“It is the Prime Minister’s job to develop capacity and address the crime crisis in this country. The Prime Minister’s statement is an admission of his total failure to take on the gangs and the violent crime that is causing so many people across the communities to be scared in their homes and fearful of walking down the streets,” Jackson said.

He argued that the Prime Minister is now talking about using crime fighting technology, as if this option, was not suggested by the Opposition long ago, and was not always available to the government.

Jackson added that crime fighting needs to surgically focus on perpetrators through investigations supported by modern technology. This requires the building out of the investigative capacities of the Security Forces, the addition of resources and placing more boots on the ground in communities as the Opposition has urged consistently.

He said that critical social intervention strategies must work in tandem with the policing mechanisms to bring the spiralling crime rate under some control.

“Where has the PM been over the last few years as the crime crisis spiralled out of control? PM Holness has failed miserably and is now grasping at straws. To make matters worse, the two ministers he has assigned to National Security – Horace Chang and Matthew Samuda – are also running the JLP’s political campaign and not available to focus on the scourge that is running rampant across the nation,” Jackson charged.