KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Young Entrepreneurs Association is recommending that an app be developed where everyone can subscribe to get latest updates on missing persons, wanted men, serious crimes or restricted areas based on active shooting or violence without having to wait for it to show up on social media.

This recommendation follows the murder of 20-year-old accounting clerk, Khanice Jackson, whose body was found at the Portmore Fishing Village, in St Catherine, on Friday.

Jackson was reported missing two days earlier, after leaving home for work.

In a statement today, the association described the incident as “disheartening” and “discouraging”, as one more young person and especially one more woman has died in such a tragic and senseless way.

The association also recommended that the 24-hour wait time to get on missing persons cases be removed.

“We keep reiterating that 97.6 per cent of the productive capacity of the country is represented by MSMES (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises). The country’s growth and its future rests in the innovative and productive capacity of the people. Are we just going to sit by and allow so many of our young people and our young women to die? Every time someone dies in Jamaica, that’s one more entrepreneur and one more professional and productive citizen’s life down the literal and the brain drain and because of the multiplier at least three other families thrown into suffering,” the association said.

“What will it take for drastic measures to be implemented? Does death have to reach the doors of the political leaders before something can be done? In Jamaica they say there is at least two degrees of separation but the distance is getting smaller and smaller. We no longer have the luxury of turning a blind eye to what is happening to our people,” it continued.

The association further recommended that a control tower or command centre be set up for missing persons so that as soon as the individual goes missing, the latest technology can be used to immediately identify the location of the cell phone, credit card, bank card etc.

Noting that there are many law graduates sitting at home without a job, the association recommended setting up a task force and have them review some of these archaic laws and improve the justice system.

“If the government has no money, I am almost sure if they can get funding for prisons, they can get international donor funding for something like this,” the association said.

“We are only nine years away from Vision 2030. If we are going to get there, we are imploring the government to do something or at least say something. In the words of Sir Patrick Allen there is nothing wrong with Jamaica that cannot be fixed by what is right with Jamaica. Young people and young entrepreneurs need a vision and they need to see how they fit in the vision.

“The government doesn’t have to do it alone. These same young minds can, would love to and should be engaged and tapped to identify solutions to crime and some of the other major issues in Jamaica. We must work together to fix our county so that all young Jamaicans and global investors can begin to see even a glimpse of a Jamaica where they would want to live, work, raise families and do business,” the association said.